Former Stafford Hospital nursing boss to await fate in misconduct case
The former director of nursing at Stafford Hospital accused of making reckless cutbacks that put patients in danger must now wait until autumn to find out her fate.
Janice Harry allegedly slashed the number of nurses to dangerous levels, refused to adequately staff the A&E department, and ignored warnings that patients were at risk.
The 60-year-old recommended a series of measures which left the hospital with more unqualified staff than trained nurses in a bid to cut costs and hit Government targets, the Nursing and Midwifery Council has heard.
Harry enjoyed reducing colleagues to tears with fearsome dressing-downs, leaving nurses too scared to blow the whistle on plummeting care standards, witnesses told the panel.
The registered nurse also allegedly asked whether patients were 'going to heaven soon' to see if a bed was becoming free, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard.
The panel has now adjourned until a date to be fixed in the autumn.
Ward manager Joanna Harvey described Harry as 'a bully' who would intimidate staff with aggressive and sarcastic comments. She added that standards at the hospital nosedived when £10m of cuts had to be made to achieve the Government's Foundation status.
"Patient care had been significantly compromised, and a very stressful atmosphere had been created," she said. William Davis, for the NMC, said Harry presided over an 'unacceptable decline in the standards of nursing care' offered at the hospital. She stands accused of lying about recruiting new nurses, and refusing to look at incident reports presented to her, saying: "Don't bring me problems, bring the answer."
Harry, previously a board member with the West Midlands Regional Health Authority and the Wolverhampton NHS Trust, left Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust in the summer of 2006. She retired from professional practice three years later. If found guilty of misconduct, Harry could be struck off the nursing register. She denies all allegations.
The hearing has been adjourned after two Stafford Hospital nurses who faked patient records to meet targets were struck off.
Sharon Turner and Tracy White falsified accident and emergency discharge times to avoid missing a government goal for patients to be dealt with within four hours.
