Nurse struck off for 18 charges of care failings

An Ayrshire nurse has been struck off and handed an 18-month interim suspension after being found guilty of as many as 18 charges of care 'failings' across two care homes in Irvine and Kilmarnock.

- PAUL BEHAN

Ramani Sreekumar was subject to a disciplinary investigation at Fullarton Care Home in Irvine - but she failed to disclose this when she applied for a post at Kilmarnock-based Crossgate Care Home.

Now the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has scrubbed Sreekumar's name off their register of adult nurses, labelling her "dishonest" and claiming her fitness to practise is "impaired."

In a 51-page dossier centred on the case, the NMC said the charges arose whilst Mrs Sreekumar was employed as a registered nurse at Fullarton Care Home in 2019. Initial "concerns" related to Mrs Sreekumar's administration of medication to a resident during a nightshift and to subsequently "attempting to cover up the incident."

However, a second referral to the regulator was made in relation to Mrs Sreekumar's work as a registered nurse at Crossgate Care Home. The second allegation was that Mrs Sreekumar was "rude to staff," she "failed to properly follow" a resident's care plan, and "concealed previous regulatory and disciplinary investigations" when applying for the role in 2019 and 2020.

Sreekumar faced a total of 24 charges and 11 witnesses were brought in during the NMC's substantive hearing, held in Edinburgh.

Six of the charges, including one that alleged she 'inaccurately' informed a colleague that a resident was 'fine'- when they were discovered dead shortly after - were dropped.

Among the charges brought against her during her time at Fullarton, Sreekumar, during a nightshift in October 2019, did "not adequately check" on a resident's condition after being informed their syringe driver was not working properly.

Sreekumar also 'lied' to multiple colleagues that she telephoned the Out of Hours District Nurses, to review the resident's syringe driver. She also "ignored" the resident's family whilst administering medication.