Two nurses have been sent to prison for pretending to carry out blood glucose tests on patients and making up the results. Another has been given a community order.
During the trial at Cardiff Crown Court, it was heard that three nurses frequently failed to check the blood glucose levels of patients on the specialist stroke ward at Bridgend’s Princess of Wales Hospital.
These patients should have had their glucose levels checked every two hours, although one went 26 hours without a test. This left the patients, who were unable to regulate their own glucose levels, at risk of serious harm.
The nurses were found to have falsified medical records with fake results in order to cover up their failings. All three pleaded guilty to wilful neglect.
One nurse was sentenced to eight months in prison, another given four months, and a third was handed a 12 month community order.
“A failure of compassion and humanity”
While passing sentence, Judge Tom Crowther QC said: “I pause to remind myself that you all would have seen worried relatives coming and going, sitting with their mothers, fathers or spouses as they lay ill, some approaching the end of their lives, and to wonder with bemusement how you could have continued to betray your patients and those families as you did.”
“This was not a failure to do your job, it was a failure of compassion and humanity. This was clear-eyed and calculated deception, the purpose of which was to make the defendants’ working time easier.”
Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board said an internal review has taken place, and 12 other nurses are currently suspended from work.
In a statement, the Health Board said: “We are also now able to commission further work to consider what can be learned from these events, and to ensure we have everything in place to avoid it happening again.”
Speak to a solicitor
If you or your loved one has been harmed by poor hospital care, please contact us at Glynns Solicitors.
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