Nurses struck off over Stafford hospital scandal – but one is still employed by NHS
Sharon Turner and Tracey White have become the first nurses to lose their licence to practice over the scandal at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust after a decision made this afternoon by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
The nurses falsified accident and emergency discharge times to avoid missing the government goal for patients to be dealt with within four hours, the panel found, and Turner swore about patients, threatened a colleague, and made racist remarks about Asian doctors.
During Turner's time working at the trust between December 2003 and October 2009, the panel ruled she spoke about patients and staff in an “inappropriate manner”.
White faced five charges of misconduct, including one of falsifying computer records for the time a patient spent in A&E. The panel ruled that the facts were “not proved: for some elements of other allegations made. She is still employed by the trust as a clinical site manager, and the trust said her continued employment situation is under "careful consideration".
Julie Bailey, who heads up the Cure the NHS campaign and lost her mother at Stafford hospital, tweeted:
Fantastic news, at last the start of accountability for those poor victims of the Mid Staffs disaster. Still a long way to go tho!
— Julie Bailey (@curetheNHS) July 25, 2013