Published: Wednesday, 9th July, 2008 12:00
‘Bully’ care home nurse struck off
By Court Reporter
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A ‘BULLY’ care nurse at a home in Sauchie, who left a disabled pensioner’s face bruised after shaking her by the jaw has been struck off the nursing register.
Molly Moswate, 42, grabbed the 80-year-old woman’s face and shouted “stop it, stop it,” because she was choking on mashed potato.
She also screamed in the face of a 93-year-old patient with dementia, before making a “veiled threat” in telling the pensioner, “Nobody else needs to know about this.”
Complaints from fellow colleagues saw the staff nurse, from Botswana, sacked from Hillview Court Care Home in Sauchie, in November 2006.
Miss Moswate was struck off for the maximum five years by a panel of the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s Conduct and Competence Committee in Edinburgh, last Tuesday.
The hearing was told how the 80-year-old woman, known only as Resident A, was left with fingerprint bruising to her face in the September 2006 incident.
Mary Walker, a care worker, reported the attacks, saying she was worried that residents would have heart attacks.
She told the hearing, “The resident had taken her food out of her mouth which was normal as she needed to take her time.
“But Molly just leapt up and bolted across the room, grabbing the lady’s jaw, she shook her head and screamed ‘stop it’ twice.”
Pam Schroder, a staff nurse, said that the following month, on the evening of 13 October, 2006, she heard Miss Moswate shouting “shut up” at Resident B in what she described as an “extremely loud voice”.
Miss Schroder said, “I went through and could hear Resident B’s voice was trembling. She asked Molly to stop treating her like a child, she was distressed and fidgeting in her seat.”
The care home launched an investigation into the complaints in November and manager Jane Nelson sacked Miss Moswate for “gross misconduct.”
Miss Moswate, who was not present at the hearing, was said to have left her disciplinary meeting saying, “I don’t know what I’ve done wrong.”
Pauline Derbyshire, who chaired the NMC panel, said, “We have come to this decision because the staff nurse’s behaviour constituted several serious breaches of the nursing code of conduct.
“The public are entitled to expect nurses to not behave in a way which poses risks to residents.”
The NMC case presenter Joanna Dirmikis said the panel had heard “an extremely serious case of violence.”
She said, “Molly Moswate made a mockery of the nursing profession, which is otherwise held in high regard in this country.
“There was a veiled threat and a lack of remorse on her part towards people who are among the most vulnerable patients one can deal with.”
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