Nurse jailed for seven years for ill-treating patients
Posted 14 December 2023 - 14:10
Catherine Hudson was convicted of drugging two patients on a hospital stroke unit to ‘keep them quiet’ but claimed she showed ‘nothing but care and devotion’
A nurse has been sentenced to seven years in prison for the ill-treatment of patients on a hospital stroke unit.
Catherine Hudson had been found guilty of drugging two patients to ‘keep them quiet and compliant’ while she worked shifts at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, run by Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, between February 2017 and November 2018.
She was sentenced to seven years and two months in prison today after a two-day sentencing hearing at Preston Crown Court.
After a one-month trial which ended in October, Ms Hudson was also found guilty of conspiring with Charlotte Wilmot, a band 4 assistant practitioner, to administer a sedative to a third patient. Ms Hudson was cleared of ill-treating two other patients.
Hospital bosses alerted police after concerns were raised by a nursing student on placement
Members of the trial jury were read WhatsApp messages between the two women that revealed what the prosecution called a ‘culture of abuse’ on the unit. In one message Ms Hudson said: ‘I sedated one of them to within an inch of her life lol. Bet she’s flat for a week haha.’
The court heard that a nursing student spoke up about events she had become concerned about while on placement at the unit in November 2018. Hospital bosses then alerted police.
The student said Ms Hudson suggested administering unprescribed Zopiclone, a sleeping pill, to a patient and she became further troubled when Ms Hudson said: ‘Well she’s got a DNAR [do not attempt resuscitation notice] in place so she wouldn’t be opened up if she died or like if it came to any harm.’
Trust says improvements made following the case included staffing and medicines management
Both women denied the charges. Ms Hudson said the private messages were banter and should not be taken seriously. She told the court she had shown ‘nothing but care and devotion’ to the stroke unit’s patients and their families.
Ms Wilmot, who was found guilty of encouraging Ms Hudson to ill-treat patients in her care, was sentenced to three years in prison.
In a statement following the verdicts, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Trish Armstrong-Child said a number of improvements had been made following the case, including in staffing, medicines management and creating a more respectful culture to encourage anyone who has concerns to speak up.
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