Nurse rapped over flu jab blunder

A NURSE has been disciplined by her national governing body for giving a patient a flu jab wrongly and not carrying out proper checks on medication.

Wendy Jeffrey was handed a three-year caution order by the Nursing and Midwifery Council in her absence at a misconduct hearing which also heard how she had kept medical records wrongly.

The conduct and competence committee found proved three charges, one of two parts, against Jeffrey, who worked as a locum practice nurse at Mexborough Health Centre in 2007.

She was accused of:

Administering a drug to a patient and failing to check before doing so whether it was the correct drug to use.

• Making an inaccurate record of the administration of a drug.
• Failing to make an accurate patient record for another patient's height and weight in his medical records.
• Failing to properly administer a flu vaccine to a third patient, causing liquid from the syringe to fall onto her own hands and/or those of the patient and/or the patient's mother.

On the last charge, the committee concluded: “There was evidence that a significant amount of the vaccine in fact spilt onto the hands of the patient or his mother.

“The panel would wish to emphasise that not every spillage of a flu vaccine would amount to misconduct on the part of the nurse administering the treatment.

“However, the panel accepts that in this case there was a clear lack of care in administering this treatment and this led to a significant spillage of vaccine, which could and should have been avoided.”

A report on the hearing said: “The panel is satisfied that, on the facts found proved in relation to all charges, the registrant (Jeffrey) is guilty of misconduct.

“The registrant’s fitness to practise was certainly impaired at the time of these charges.

“In a recent telephone call the registrant asked the panel to take certain points into account in her favour.

“The panel has taken all these matters into account in considering the question of impairment.

“However, she has said nothing about steps that she might have taken to address the shortcomings in her practice revealed by these charges.

“This was not an isolated incident, because the charges relate to three separate incidents, although the panel accepts that none of them was deliberate.

“The panel also thinks it significant that the registrant was facing very considerable personal problems at the time of these incidents.

“Despite the fact that the practice was aware that she was exhibiting signs that she was having difficulty in coping with her work, she seems to have been given very little support by her employers.

“This does not excuse her conduct, but it gives the panel confidence that the registrant does not normally behave in the manner described in the charges in this case.”

Jeffrey’s record in the NMC register will show for three years that she is the subject of a caution order.

The NMC will also keep a record of the panel’s finding that her fitness to practise had been impaired.