A nurse alleged to have locked an elderly resident of a Dublin nursing home in a bathroom “absolutely denies” the allegation, a fitness-to-practice committee inquiry has heard.
Procesa Basa Robediso, who was a nurse in Simpson’s Hospital in Dundrum, Dublin 16, between September 2010 and April 2013, is accused of professional misconduct and poor professional performance.
The fitness-to-practise committee of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland heard an allegation that Ms Robediso had locked a resident aged over 90, described as feeble with moderate to severe dementia, in a bathroom.
Mary O’Leary, who was in charge of the nursing home in the period the alleged incidents occurred and who brought the complaint against the nurse, said she was told by another member of staff that Ms Robediso had locked the bathroom door although she later accepted it was “unclear” from CCTV footage whether Ms Robediso had done so.
Matthew Jolley BL, acting on behalf of Ms Robediso, said it was his client’s case that, while she did leave the resident in the bathroom while she fetched dry clothes for her, she had not locked the door.
He put it to Ms O’Leary that the resident in question had a history of locking herself into rooms and bathrooms including the bathroom in question. Ms O’Leary said she was aware of two occasions on which the resident had locked herself into her bedroom or bathroom.
A further allegation centred on the administration of a double dose of Camcolit, a lithium-based drug used to treat bipolar disorders, to another individual referred to as resident A.
Mr Jolley put it to Ms O’Leary that the error in the resident’s medication had gone through two other security protocols before Ms Robediso had administered the drug and that the error was a “systemic failure” and not solely that of the nurse.
A further allegation was that, on another occasion, Ms Robediso had examined a resident at a nurse’s station in a public corridor instead of doing so in private.
Ms O’Leary said, on the day in question, she overheard a conversation between Ms Robediso and the resident and that she perceived there to be a communications issue whereby the nurse thought the resident was complaining of a sore stomach where actually he was referring to a sore on his stomach.
She said Ms Robediso then examined the resident in the public corridor. Ms O’Leary said she felt this was inappropriate and told the nurse to examine the resident in private. However, Mr Jolley said it would be his client’s case that the resident had himself raised his top to allow Ms Robediso to examine him. Ms O’Leary said this was not her recollection.
Ms Robediso is also alleged on January 4th 2013 to have recorded the haemoglobin results of resident C in the records of another resident referred to as resident D.
However, Mr Jolley said his client had received this information from another staff member of the nursing home who had received the results over the phone.
The inquiry continues on Friday.