A nurse who worked at a care home in Southall has been given a caution order after putting care home residents "at risk of harm" by turning up unfit to work. Jaswinder Kaur, who worked at Beacon House Nursing Home, was given the 18-month caution after a misconduct panel found her fitness to practise “impaired".
The panel heard that on February 23 last year, Ms Kaur arrived "unfit to work" at the care home, which takes care of frail elderly patients and young people with disabilities. Ms Kaur, who has been an adult nurse since 1994, admitted before the hearing began that she had turned up to work while unfit, according to a report by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
Alcohol was allegedly smelt on the nurse's breath by both a registered nurse and a patient care co-ordinator at the home, who both gave evidence during the hearing.
The misconduct panel later concluded that, on the balance of probabilities, Ms Kaur had consumed alcohol before attending work on February 23. During the hearing, it was alleged she was sent home from her shift after being found "slumped over" a desk while smelling of alcohol.
Giving evidence, the patient care co-ordinator at Beacon House said Ms Kaur started to talk about personal matters and became "very emotional and upset”.
Although the senior staff member said Ms Kaur's "speech became slurred", she conceded that this could have been down to her increasing levels of distress. She also suggested that Ms Kaur was "not talking in complete sentences and kept repeatedly talking about [her] personal life in response to the handover information.”
In a meeting on February 24, the NMC report suggests the nurse admitted she had "been out with friends" and had had a drink before work the previous day. Although the hearing concluded that Ms Kaur had drunk alcohol before her shift, it did not find sufficient evidence to prove that the consumption was of a degree which left her “unfit for work”.
According to the panel, the nurse's actions fell "significantly short of the standards expected of a nurse" and they said her actions were a breach of the Code.
