Nurse banned after poor English put patients at risk

A woman was banned from working as an NHS nurse after her poor understanding of the English language was deemed to be a risk to patients.

Animol Puthanpurackal Thomas also failed to recognise when a patient was having a seizure, a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) report said. A previous hearing was told she struggled with language difficulties during multiple serious incidents.

She worked as a supernumerary nurse at Broomfield Hospital, near Chelmsford, between August 2021 and May 2022.

Puthanpurackal Thomas had not worked at the hospital since then, the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust said.

The NMC panel found she did not notice when a patient was having a seizure while she was cleaning them in February 2022 and failed to pull an alarm bell.

A series of incidents were reported on 26 April 2022, including Puthanpurackal Thomas pushing tablets into a patient's mouth and pouring water in.

She also drew up the incorrect dosage of insulin to be administered to a person under her care, according to the report.

The NMC said her blunders had caused "actual harm" to patients.

Her poor understanding of English "appeared to exacerbate underlying poor practice", the panel found, deciding to strike her off the register.

NHS regulators were given powers to discipline or strike off public-facing healthcare staff who could not speak English to the necessary level in 2014.

Puthanpurackal Thomas did not engage with the misconduct proceedings and has not spoken to the NMS since March 2023.

In previous written evidence, she admitted struggling with the English accent.

Do you have a story suggestion for Essex? Contact us below.

Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.