A HOSPITAL nurse has been found guilty of assaulting a vulnerable elderly patient.

Sedgefield Magistrates' Court heard how auxiliary nurse Barbara Carty kneed a 73-year-old schizophrenic in the buttocks and region of his groin.

The 46-year-old also nipped his buttocks so hard that her nails cut him, roughly man-handled him by his pyjama top and shouted abuse at him when he would not get up off the bathroom floor.

The court heard how Carty and staff nurse Helen Latue were trying to help James Morgan off the floor of the bathroom at Darlington Memorial Hospital last year.

Mr Morgan, who has since died, could be unpredictable and awkward with hospital staff due to mental illness.

When the nurses could not get him off the floor, Carty, who denied assault, became angry, the court was told.

Miss Latue said the auxiliary nurse lashed out.

She told the court Carty "got behind him and started to knee him, shouting at him to stand up".

Carty, of Holmlands Road, Darlington, then nipped him in the buttocks and dug her nails in. Eventually, with the help of auxiliary nurse Jan Mason, they were able to get Mr Morgan off the floor.

He then called Carty a nasty bully and she replied, saying: "And you're nothing but a conniving, dirty old man."

Miss Latue was so shocked and upset by what she had seen, she reported it to Sister Lorraine Welford.

The following day, cuts were found on Mr Morgan's buttocks, and disciplinary proceedings were started against Carty, who was suspended.

Carty said she could have caused the injuries accidentally, but denied kneeing or nipping, or being verbally abusive. She said Miss Latue's version of events was exaggerated.

Joanne Gatens, in defence, suggested that if her client had assaulted the patient, then Miss Latue, as a more senior member of staff, would have intervened.

Mrs Gatens handed in a number of letters of support for Carty from former patients and colleagues.

Carty has been sacked from her job and will never work in the health care profession again. She will be sentenced at Darlington Magistrates Court on Thursday, February 2.