Jailed nurse struck off nursing register

By Alexander Lawrie

A FILIPINO nurse who was jailed for abusing dementia suffering pensioners under his care has been struck from the nursing register.

Jeffrey Ednalan’s cruel assaults included stuffing a deodorant can in the mouth of a 95-year-old man to stop him shouting, and two counts of indecent assault including handling a frail 86-year-old woman’s naked breasts.

Ednalan, 36, was found guilty of all charges in front of the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s Conduct and Competence Committee, in Edinburgh yesterday.

The panel ordered Ednalan’s name to be struck from the register after learning he had been caged for 15 months for the systematic abuse of residents at an Edinburgh care home.

He also ordered seven residents to remain in their unchanged incontinence pads all day “just to save time” later in the day.

Ednalan was placed on the sex offender’s list for ten years for his horrific attacks when he was convicted at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in May 2007.

During the court case the married father-of-one denied all the charges set before him and insisted his fellow workers made up the allegations out of jealousy at his senior position.

During his trail he claimed: “I am not a terror person, I would never do that. I was never superior to them.”

Ednalan – who failed to appear before the nursing panel – was initially employed at Colinton Care Home in Edinburgh as an adaptational nurse, but his attitude was said to have changed once he became fully-qualified.

The three-person nursing panel heard written statements from two witnesses at yesterday’s hearing – a police statement, and an account from the care home manager Dawn Hamilton – before making their judgment.

Chair Judith Worthington said: “The panel finds the registrant’s fitness to practice is indeed impaired.

“We took into account all of the relevant details and considered all the witness statements, which we found to be credible.

“The panel has noted the assaults were of a severe nature, and were very serious involving elderly dementia-suffering residents.

“All the allegations against the respondent were well-founded.”

The catalogue of assaults on the residents took place between October 2005 and March 2006.

In the most shocking of the assaults, Ednalan struck a 95-year-old man, who suffered from dementia and anxiety, on the back of the head with a towel.

When the elderly resident complained, Ednalan then proceeded to stuff a deodorant can into the man’s mouth, and then replaced it with five cleaning wipes.

He also grabbed a 76-year-old woman by the shoulders and shook her violently.

The disgraced nurse also faced two counts of indecent assault on elderly female residents at the home.

He was found guilty of handling an 86-year-old woman’s naked breasts, and brutally assaulting another female resident by touching her breasts through her clothes.

The tribunal heard the senior nurse also left seven residents in their dirty incontinence pads all day to “save time”.

All of Ednalan’s crimes were uncovered after worried staff at the care home reported him to the newly-appointed manager of the home.

Striking Ednalan from the nursing register, the panel stated: “We have considered this case very carefully and have decided to make a striking off order.

“The charges the registrant was convicted of caused serious harm to vulnerable and elderly people, and had the potential to harm resident’s mental health in the future.

“This repeated abuse is of a very serious nature.

“It is in the public interest, and to maintain public confidence in the nursing profession, that we have made this decision.”

An interim order of 18 months was placed against Ednalan in case of any appeal on his part.

The Filipino national was also handed a deportation order by the courts after he was sentenced in 2007.

Nurse struck off after jabbing elderly patient 285

By Alexander Lawrie

A MENTAL health nurse has been struck off the nursing register after he jabbed his finger into an elderly patient’s face while shouting at him.
 
James Fraser, 54, was working at the Udston Hospital in Hamilton when he lost it with a dementia-sufferer he was meant to be caring for.

He shouted at the man, grabbed hold of his arm and twisted his hand, before poking him in the face.

Fraser, of Motherwell, did not appear to hear evidence against him, and the hearing went ahead in his absence.
 
He defended his actions by claiming he was acting in self-defence and that he was under considerable financial pressure and had recently gone through a traumatic divorce.

But yesterday, at a hearing of the Nursing and Midwifery Council conduct and competence committee, a panel found him guilty of three charges in relation to the March 2006 incident.

Giving evidence, one of Fraser’s colleagues nurse Catherine Walls admitted she was “very angry” after witnessing the abuse of the patient.
 
She said: “On that day I saw Fraser and the patient coming out of the toilet. As they got near to the seating area Fraser was directly behind Patient A.
 
“As he turned to leave, the patient tried to grasp Fraser. At that point Fraser grabbed the right arm of the patient and pulled it out straight.
 
“It looked like he was twisting his arm.
 
“He (Fraser) was also very loud as he shouted at the patient, he then started to jab his finger into the man’s face.
 
“I couldn’t actually hear what was said because I was in the office looking through the window, but it was very aggressive.”

The tribunal heard how Fraser – who had been in nursing for over 30 years but is now understood to work in a call centre – had previously received censuring at an unofficial management meeting for being aggressive to fellow members of staff.

They were also told Fraser had attended staff courses on how to deal with aggressive and vulnerable patients, but that he thought the courses did not leave him competent to deal with the situation.
 
Nurse Walls added: “The incident didn’t call for anything like the reaction I saw, so I reported it officially.
 
“He could have walked away from the situation and there was no need for him to turn back.”
 
After finding the nurse guilty of the three charges, the panel decided to strike Fraser from the nursing register for a minimum of five years due to his fitness to practice being impaired by reason of misconduct.
 
James Crowe, chair of the committee, said: “The committee has decided the respondent’s conduct is fundamentally incompatible with the NMC’s code of conduct.
 
“The protection of patients has to be paramount. In this case, the patient’s safety was compromised. The committee has no up-to-date information on how Mr Fraser has tried to re-dress his deficiencies.
 
“We consider his actions to be a serious departure from the rules set out in the NMC’s code.
 
“The panel has decided to strike Mr Fraser from the nursing register for a minimum period of five years after finding his fitness to practice was impaired by reason of misconduct.”