Anthony J B D P Andrews was found to have acted dangerously and dishonestly while working as an agency nurse in South West London.
A Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) misconduct panel ruled Mr Andrews’ fitness to practise as a nurse was impaired after holding hearings in December, which he did not attend. In a new report released this month, the panel said his misconduct had put patients at risk.
Mr Andrews was employed as a mental health nurse by two agencies, Care Staff Solutions and Pulse Nursing, and his work placements included The Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, in Putney, South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust and the NHS Talking Therapies team at West London NHS Trust.
The panel found Mr Andrews gave a patient medication they were not prescribed using an unsafe route through their tracheostomy – an opening in their throat – which would have taken “considerable force”, on September 8, 2023. The patient, who was not under his care, began to cough and show signs of respiratory distress before they were stabilised.
The patient’s family reported that they had tried to stop Mr Andrews but he ignored them and continued administering the medication into the tube. The panel found the medication Mr Andrews gave the patient was incorrect, as he had mistaken them for someone else and failed to check their records.
On the same day, Mr Andrews was found to have given medication to another patient without checking their records.
Mr Andrews was also found to have accepted the shift when he knew he did not have the skills needed to work in tracheostomy care, deliberately misleading the ward manager by lying that he was trained in it. The panel said this was “egregious and deplorable”.
The panel also found Mr Andrews failed to provide South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust with a copy of temporary restrictions that had been placed on him by the NMC in 2021.
It ruled he then breached this order by failing to notify the NMC within seven days of a medication error he had made in May 2022. He was also found to have worked five shifts for West London NHS Trust without telling them of an interim suspension order that had been imposed on him in November 2023, as he had deliberately not checked the outcome of the hearing.
The panel ruled Mr Andrews’ actions had fallen significantly short of the standards expected of a registered nurse and amounted to misconduct.
The report said: “The panel determined that patients were put at risk and there was serious potential risk of harm as a result of Mr Andrews’ misconduct. Mr Andrews’ misconduct had breached fundamental tenets of the nursing profession and therefore brought its reputation into disrepute.”
The panel said Mr Andrews had shown some remorse, but there was no evidence he understood the seriousness of his actions and their impact on patients’ safety.
The report added: “The panel determined that there is a risk to the public as Mr Andrews’ conduct was dangerous and dishonest and is unremedied. Due to a lack of insight, remediation and strengthening of practice, the panel decided that a finding of impairment is necessary on the grounds of public protection.”
The panel decided to strike Mr Andrews from the register.
