Nurse struck off after watching Netflix ‘for hours’ while on duty
Posted 02 September 2022 - 12:52
Care home nurse Susan Hughes slept while on shift, failed to respond to emergency buzzers and had been previously accused of verbal abuse of a patient
A nurse who watched Netflix on her phone and slept at reception on shift at a care home has been struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
Nurse claims watching Netflix on shift was ‘beneficial for her practice’
Susan Hughes told an NMC fitness to practise (FtP) panel that watching Netflix while on duty helped her concentrate and refuted claims she slept on the job, claiming she has an eye condition that made her look like she was asleep.
The panel found the mental health nurse believed that watching TV ‘was acceptable and beneficial for her practice’ and that her failure to demonstrate insight into her failings meant there was a ‘significant risk’ she would do it again.
Two colleagues told the hearing how they had seen Ms Hughes watching Netflix on her phone ‘for hours’. One witness told the hearing she also saw the nurse regularly sleeping at work at Charlotte House Care Home in Wirral.
‘She would watch it in the reception area on her phone with earphones in,’ one witness stated.
Another nurse who worked with Ms Hughes about two shifts a week said she would see her sleeping on duty most shifts,
‘I knew she was sleeping as she was snoring; she also used to take her shoes off and put her feet on the reception desk,’ they said.
The panel concluded: ‘Any nurse who sleeps during a shift or watches Netflix while doing nursing paperwork and important documentation such as care plans and thinks it appropriate to watch Netflix in those circumstances, raises a fundamental question about their professionalism.’
Colleagues report refusal to answer emergency buzzers
Ms Hughes also faced a series of charges including not responding to call bells and failing to respond to patients.
In one instance she shouted and swore at a resident and later failed to make basic observational checks and call a doctor when the same resident had a fall in December 2019.
Other colleagues explained how she refused to answer at least two emergency buzzers.
A witness said: ‘Susan refused to come to the room and I witnessed her saying “what do you want me to do, jump on her f***ing chest?”’.
‘When an emergency buzzer went off on another occasion with a different resident, Susan said “bagsy not doing CPR”.’
The NMC first received a complaint about Ms Hughes from brighterkind who own the care home in January 2020, in relation to her conduct towards a resident.
She was accused of using inappropriate force toward the patient, being verbally abusive, failing to respond or take action to care for them, along with other general concerns over her conduct.
Ms Hughes has now been struck from the register with an interim order of 18 months.
Find out more
Nursing and Midwifery Council Fitness to Practise Committee Substantive Hearing
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