A ‘deplorable’ nurse has been struck off after drugging patients for an ‘easy life’.
Catherine Hudson was locked up after she was found to have illegally sedated two patients while working at the Blackpool Victoria Hospital. Hudson gave 76-year-old Aileen Scott the class C controlled drug zopiclone.
Ms Scott was in hospital after suffering from a stroke, leaving her paralysed on the left side of her body. Hudson was also convicted of illegally drugging a second patient and conspiring with a junior colleague, Charlotte Wilmot, 48, to administer a sedative to a third – with the intention of giving themselves an ‘easy life’ on shifts at the hospital. Police were alerted in November 2018 by a whistleblowing student nurse.
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Damning messages were discovered on her phone. Hudson wrote about one of her victims in a WhatsApp message: “I sedated one of them to within an inch of her life lol. Bet she’s flat for a week haha xxx.”
Hudson was jailed for seven years and two months last year. Now she has been struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) at a hearing held this week.
Hudson was found guilty by a jury at Preston Crown Court of three counts of ill-treating patients and she was also convicted of conspiring with her junior colleague to inappropriately sedate another patient. Hudson admitted a number of offences of conspiring to steal drugs and medication from the hospital and perverting the course of justice.
The judge said during sentencing of a patient: “Her illness was to be mocked and her vulnerability was to be exploited to give them an easy life.” The nursing misconduct panel found Hudson’s “ill-treatment of vulnerable stroke patients over a prolonged period of time particularly deplorable”, a report published this week said.
Catherine Hudson, right, and Charlotte Wilmot, left, pictured leaving Preston Crown Court
And in light of the seriousness of the convictions and there being no evidence of insight, remorse or strengthening of practice, the panel determined there was a high risk of Hudson’s behaviour being repeated.
A report from the misconduct hearing said: “Mrs Hudson’s actions were significant departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse and in the panel’s judgement they were fundamentally incompatible with her remaining on the register.
“The panel was of the view that a member of the public would find it morally reprehensible if a nurse were allowed to practise having been convicted of ill-treatment of patients, theft of drugs and perverting the course of justice.” As the striking-off order cannot take effect until the end of the 28-day appeal period, the panel imposed an interim suspension order for a period of 18 months to cover any potential period of appeal.
Wilmot was convicted of encouraging Hudson to ill-treat a patient and also pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal medication from the hospital. She was jailed for three years.