An Ayrshire mental health nurse has been removed from the nursing register at his own request — after facing allegations of ‘incompetence.’
Gordon Jamieson, who spent 31 years practising as a nurse, faced a series of charges that his abilities were not up to the standards expected — while working at Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock.
According to the Nursing and Midwifery Council, (NMC) Jamieson showed a “lack of competence” in that he failed to demonstrate the “standards of knowledge, skill and judgement required” to practise without supervision as a Band 5 nurse in the following areas:
- Accurately scoring patients’ NEWS (a track-and-trigger early warning score system that is used to identify and respond to patients at risk of deteriorating) and GCS (used to objectively describe the extent of impaired consciousness in all types of acute medical and trauma patients)
- Prioritising care for a group of patients
- *Medication administration
- *Record keeping
- *Health – in that he had a health condition which impacted his ability to practise
In February last year the NMC received a referral from a Clinical Nurse Manager at University Crosshouse Hospital about Mr Jamieson’s fitness to practise.
The NMC said in their report: “In 2017 and 2018, concerns were raised about Mr Jamieson’s practice. These were dealt with locally.
“On 10 June 2020, whilst working in the Emergency Department, Mr Jamieson failed to refer a patient to the Intermediate Care and Enablement Service (ICES) prior to discharging the patient and did not inform anyone.”
This prompted an investigation and Mr Jamieson was supported to work on the Acute Stroke Unit (ASU) for eight weeks.
But the NMC said: “During the time in ASU, there were a number of competence and conduct issues identified and a review meeting was arranged on 24 September 2020.
“Mr Jamieson hadn’t been told in advance about the agenda for this meeting and didn’t feel that he could continue to take part in that meeting.
“The meeting carried on in Mr Jamieson’s absence and raised conduct, safety and capability concerns including.
- inability to accurately score patient’s NEWS and GCS
- failure to complete hourly physiological and neurological observations on a patient
- medication administration errors
- failure to maintain clear and accurate records
- failure to adequately complete care plans and risk assessments”
As a result Case Examiners at the NMC decided in June last year that Mr Jamieson had “a case to answer” and referred him to the Fitness to Practise Committee.
However, Mr Jamieson applied to remove his name from the register through the voluntary removal process. That application was made on the grounds that he had “retired.”
The NMC added: “In the application for voluntary removal, Mr Jamieson has ticked the boxes to confirm that he admits the facts of the concerns and accepts that his fitness to practise is impaired.”
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