(Image: PA)
A former Darlington nurse has been struck off after repeated medication errors put vulnerable patients at risk and failed to show enough improvement despite years of regulatory action.
Learning disabilities nurse Lucy Pollard was struck off the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register after a review hearing on Tuesday, October 6.
The NMC’s Fitness to Practise Committee replaced two suspension orders with a striking-off order, saying Pollard remained unfit to practise and posed risks to patients and public confidence.
The case centred on two separate sets of concerns involving medication management, record keeping and breaches of conditions imposed on her registration.
The first involved incidents at Cygnet Victoria House in Darlington between December 2018 and early 2019.
The panel found Pollard had signed medication records to say drugs had been given when they had not. On five occasions between 2018 and 2019, she falsely recorded administering medicines including clozapine and lorazepam.
She gave one patient the wrong number of tablets, failed to give another medication for HIV/AIDS and recorded that a third was taking a drug he had not been prescribed.
Pollard admitted the charges, but the panel found she had put patients at unjustified risk of harm despite her apology.
She was initially given a nine-month conditions-of-practice order, which was extended and changed several times before suspension orders replaced it.
The original order required her to administer medication only under supervision and meet her supervisor monthly.
But the latest hearing found she had breached the conditions by failing to provide a supervisor’s report and report clinical incidents to the NMC within seven days.
The panel also found there was insufficient evidence she had addressed the underlying concerns. There were no updated reflective accounts, no relevant training in medicines management or record keeping, and no current character references.
While Pollard had completed some training, the panel said it was limited and did not directly address the medication concerns.
It also noted that similar failings had occurred in two separate cases — with the later incidents happening while she was already subject to conditions.
The panel concluded the risk of repetition remained high and that patients would still be at unwarranted risk if she returned to unrestricted practice.
It said her failings had brought the profession into disrepute and raised fundamental concerns about her ability to provide safe care, keep accurate records and comply with regulatory restrictions.
Further conditions or a longer suspension were ruled out because previous chances to reflect, train and improve had not produced sufficient progress.
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Pollard had indicated she wanted to leave the register voluntarily rather than be struck off, but the panel said no approved decision for voluntary removal was before it.
It concluded striking her off was necessary to protect the public, maintain confidence in nursing and uphold professional standards.
The striking-off order took effect on October 6.