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Nurse kicked out of profession for making up reports

A nurse who put patients at risk by making up false observation reports has been kicked out of the profession.

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Tracey Billyard failed to carry out basic checks then falisfied records to cover her tracks at Sandwell Hospital.

Billyward was also caught on CCTV putting a patient's casualty card in the clinical waste bin, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard.

She made up observation reports after two patients told a doctor their blood pressure and oxygen levels had not been taken.

When confronted by a doctor the nurse replied: "Whatever",the hearing was told.

In one case a doctor examined a patient with a head injury and mentioned his blood pressure and pulse.

The patient said no observations had been taken on May 31 2012.Billiard insisted she had done them, but 20 minutes later the patient's casualty card went missing.

CCTV footage showed Billyard taking it and disposing of it in a clinical waste bin, the tribunal heard.

In a handwritten statement she said: "I was distracted because I was under

pressure and had not done them, so I made them up."

She then said in a meeting: "I was so ashamed of what I did and wanted to erase it. I did not go straight home, I sat in MacDonald's car park for about an hour."

Billyard reigned from her position two days before her disciplinary hearing on 1 May last year.

Striking her off, NMC panel chair Polly Clarke said: "Patients and their families must be able to trust nurses with their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

"To justify that trust, nurses must be honest and open and act with integrity.

"The panel considered that by documenting that she had performed observations on Patient A, Patient B and Patient D Ms Billyard exacerbated

the risk of unwarranted harm to which she subjected them."

She added: "'The panel considered Ms Billyard's extreme personal circumstances but considered that the serious breach of the fundamental tenets of the

profession evidenced by her actions is fundamentally incompatible with her remaining on the register and that therefore the aggravating features in

this case outweigh the mitigation.

"Balancing all of these factors and after taking into account all the evidence before it, the panel determined that the appropriate and proportionate sanction is that of a striking-off order."

She was cleared of one count of falsifying patient observations as there was no case to answer.

Her fitness to practice was found impaired by reason of misconduct and she was struck off.

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