County Durham care home nurse Regina Shandu slept on duty

Nurse Regina Shandu worked in the rehab unit at Hawthorns Care Home in Peterlee, County Durham dealing with residents with brain and spinal injuries, between 2015 and July 2018.

She was dismissed from the job after a disciplinary hearing, which she unsuccessfully appealed.

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A hearing by the Nursing and Midwifery Council earlier this month heard how Mrs Shandu, who has been a nurse for 52 years, slept on the job on numerous occasions.

Four staff at the home told how they’d seen the nurse catch some shut eye while she was meant to be working.

One fellow carer at the home said: “I saw her at the desk sleeping on multiple occasions.

Hawthorns Care Home in Peterlee. (Image: GOOGLE)

“[She] would sleep on a computer chair or another chair.”

A rehab assistant at the home said Regina, “would sleep on duty every shift I worked with her”, while another added she napped “most nights she was on shift for”.

The adult nurse admitted to sleeping on the job but said she would nap by the desk in case anything happens.

“If I sleep it is for 20 to 30 minutes but by the desk so if anything happens I am there,” she said.

She was also found to have pre-potted medication and left it in residents’ rooms for other care staff to administer. A National Care Forum report on preventing medication errors in care homes in 2019 said ‘potting up’ medicines in advance should be outlawed.

Mrs Shandu’s legal representative Mr Charles Ferguson said it was clear she now appreciated that sleeping on duty was wrong, and that she had “clearly learned [her] lesson”.

He added she has been in a new role for five years and her employer provided a “glowing reference”.

The fitness to practice panel said her actions fell “seriously short” of expected and amounted to misconduct.

In relation to her sleeping on the job it said said: “Your actions gave rise to a risk of harm to extremely vulnerable residents, including those who were reliant on ventilators, and this risk was compounded by the fact that you were the only registered nurse on shift for the majority of nights you worked.

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It added pre-potting medication and leaving this unattended could cause potential harm to residents.

The panel concluded Mrs Shandu’s fitness to practice was not currently impaired on the grounds of public protection, but was impaired on the grounds of public interest, adding public confidence in the profession could be undermined. It said it did not believe she now posed any risk to patients.

She was handed a five-year caution and will still be allowed to practice.