A NURSE has been struck off for misconduct following errors he made when giving patients their medication.
Isagani De Leon failed to follow correct procedures for administering controlled drugs while working on Ward B21 at Sunderland Royal Hospital.
Almost three years after the first incident took place, the case was heard by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Conduct and Competence Committee panel in London.
Mr De Leon was not present at the three-day hearing, which resulted in his nursing career ending “for the protection of the public and in the public interest”. The panel upheld all allegations made against the band five staff nurse and said his actions could have put patients – on a ward specialising in rheumatology, neurology and cardiology – at risk.
It was established that in February 2009, Mr De Leon administered the morphine-based painkiller, Zomorph, to a patient without another nurse being present and then asked a colleague to dishonestly sign the Controlled Drugs Book to say he had witnessed the administration.
Then a month later, on March 28, Mr De Leon failed to record that he had given medications to patients on the ward.
The NMC report said that Mr De Leon had admitted it was not the first time he’d administered a controlled drug without a witness.
He further claimed that he had given the patients on Ward B21 their medications but then other things happened on the ward and he “just forgot to sign for the drugs”.
The report stated: “The panel considered that Mr De Leon’s behaviour could have caused serious harm to the patients for whom he was responsible. His failures in record-keeping were deliberate and happened on more than one occasion.”
As soon as the error of record-keeping was established, Mr De Leon was asked to return to work to sign for the administration of the 13 patients’ drugs, but he refused.
The report said: “By failing to record his administration of medications at the time on March 28 2009, by later refusing to return to the ward to record the administration of medications, and by only doing so the following morning Mr De Leon was in clear and flagrant breach.”
The NMC hearing was told that Mr De Leon showed a level of remorse for his actions but more for the impact on himself rather than for the potential harm his actions might have had on his patients.
Mr De Leon, who is believed to have left the country and returned to the Philippines, can appeal against his striking off. A spokesperson for City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust said: “The Trust fully supports the decision of the Nursing and Midwifery Council.”
