A NURSE failed to carry out emergency resuscitation on an elderly lady because she was worried about upsetting other care home residents, an inquiry heard yesterday.

Dorothy Dhliwayo, 57, appeared to panic as the 84-year-old woman stopped breathing and started to turn blue.

But rather than perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the spot, Mrs Dhiliwayo ordered staff to put her in her wheelchair and take her to her room.

The African nurse had only come to the UK two months before the incident at the 42-bed Tenlands Nursing and Residential Home, in Wood Lane, Ferryhill, County Durham.

Angela Longstaff, a care assistant at the home, told how Mrs Dhiliwayo had also accidentally switched off the woman's oxygen mask.

Ms Longstaff told the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) that the woman's arms and legs were jerking around as her face drained of colour.

"When I got there, Resident A was on the bed and Dorothy was pounding on her chest," she said.

'I didn't really know what she was doing because I've had basic first aid training and her hands were all over the place when she was doing the chest compressions.

"There was no mouth-to-mouth going on and she never checked her pulse."

Ms Longstaff said she was told to get oxygen, which she did, placing the mask on the resident's face and turning it on, before Mr Dhiliwayo accidentally switched it off.

Resident A regained consciousness and was taken to hospital following the incident on August 30, 2002.

The hearing heard that on another occasion, on September 1, Mrs Dhiliwayo ordered Ms Longstaff to move 91-year-old Resident B after she fell and was in pain.

Ms Longstaff refused, and the woman was picked up by other carers. A hospital check revealed that the resident had a broken thigh-bone.

Under cross examination by David Manknell, for Mrs Dhiliwayo, Ms Longstaff admitted she had only ever taken part in one other CPR, which was unsuccessful.

Ms Longstaff said she knew of another CPR at the home which was also unsuccessful.

Earlier, David Glendinning, for the NMC, said Mrs Dhiliwayo wrote to inspectors at the local authority.

She wrote: "I do know that CPR should have been done on Resident A in the lounge, but there were too many other residents present and I thought they would be frightened seeing this."

Mrs Dhiliwayo, from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, admitted moving Resident A before attempting to resuscitate her and moving the second resident after she had fallen.

But she denies a charge of failing to take control in an emergency situation in relation to the CPR episode.

Mrs Dhiliwayo also denies misconduct.

She told the hearing she had worked in hospital in Botswana and Zimbabwe since 1968 but had never worked in a nursing home because there were none in Africa.

The hearing continues.