‘CIA agents played on resident’s paranoia’

Jan 24 2008 by Audrey Barton, The Journal

A CARE home boss and her staff pretended to be CIA agents to scare a paranoid resident, a hearing was told yesterday.

Maureen Sheikh, 58, also formed a mock ‘jazz band’ with staff and banged pots and pans in the room of a mentally-ill man who was distressed by noise, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) heard.

Sheikh, who was the matron in charge of St Mary’s Nursing Home in Church Chase, Chester-le-Street, County Durham for 11 years, was dismissed in September 2007 for gross misconduct.

Hannah Capgras, for the NMC, told the hearing how Sheikh had encouraged staff to participate in a bullying campaign for fun.

“These are serious allegations of psychological harm over a long period of time,” she said.

One of the residents, referred to as Resident A, suffered from paranoia and became a target for Sheikh, Ms Capgras said.

“He believed he was being followed by the CIA. The registrant organised staff to dress up as members of the CIA, and thought it was funny when he reacted in a distressed state,” she said.

One staff member, who sent written evidence to the panel, said Sheikh had run around outside the resident’s window at night, “making noises”.

Another resident, referred to as Resident D, became agitated and abusive when noise disturbed him, Ms Capgras said.

During the broadcast of the ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ in the summer of 2007, Sheikh and her staff decided to form what they referred to as a “jazz band” to torment him, the panel was told.

Sheikh also bullied two more residents, Ms Capgras said.

In addition to abusing residents, Sheikh is also said to have bullied staff members and discouraged “whistle-blowing” or the procedure where staff could report abuse in the home.

But after the “jazz band” incident a staff member wrote an anonymous letter to the home’s owners complaining about Sheikh.

The managers interviewed all the staff and suspended Sheikh on August 13.

A disciplinary hearing was scheduled for September 5 but Sheikh claimed she was too ill to attend. It was postponed until September 20, but Sheikh again failed to turn up claiming she was stressed. She was dismissed in her absence for gross misconduct.

Sheikh, a mother-of-two whose husband is a doctor, told the panel that all the allegations were fabricated.

Defence lawyer Catherine Ewins said Sheikh was the victim of bullying from the home’s owners who wanted her out because of rows about the home’s costs.

“She continued in her quiet way despite the bullying because she loved the home and the work.”

Sheikh admitted there had been a ‘jazz band’, but said she is the victim of a misunderstanding – saying it was only an impromptu “bit of fun” which most of the residents enjoyed.

She said they had not played in Resident D’s room, and they had stopped when he came out and shouted at them.

Sheikh, who denies the allegations, will now be able to work as a nurse while the NMC investigate her case.

Chair of the panel Eileen Pollock said: “The panel decided that a suspension order is not necessary for the protection of the public.”

The nurse will now face a full hearing on a date to be fixed.

A spokesman for Carewell Healthcare which runs the home declined to comment.