Yew Trees Hospital mental health nurse suspended after incident

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has suspended Dora Margaret Pasirayi, an agency nurse who regularly worked at the former Yew Trees Hospital, who allegedly failed to do anything to stop an assault on a vulnerable patient with a learning disability she had witnessed.

Following a misconduct hearing this month, Ms Pasirayi was suspended for six months.

A report published by the NMC’s fitness to practise committee revealed the details of the incident at the hospital in Kirby-le-Soken, which had previously entered special measures.

Hospital - Yew Trees

It said the male support worker responsible for physically and verbally abusing the patient subsequently kept the patient secluded in her room, which Ms Pasirayi allegedly failed to report.

She admitted providing an inaccurate account of events to hospital bosses relating to physical abuse only.

'Incident report was misleading'

The NMC said the inaccurate incident report showed Ms Pasirayi “knew about her error of not taking any action about the physical abuse at the time of the incident”.

“The report was designed to conceal and create misleading impression that it would seem so minor that CCTV would not get reviewed with the full vigour that would follow if physical abuse on a patient by a member of staff had been clearly identified,” it said.

The NMC was unable to prove Ms Pasirayi had allowed the patient to be unnecessarily secluded or failed to intervene after witnessing verbal abuse against them.

What do hospital bosses say?

Cygnet Group, which ran the hospital, said it operates a “zero-tolerance policy on abuse” and expects the highest standards of care from all its staff.

Another nurse involved in the case has also been subject to a misconduct hearing, but the NMC is yet to publish its findings.

A spokesman added: “The two individuals concerned were agency nurses and we suspended their use immediately, notifying the appropriate authorities, including the NMC.

“It was through our established systems and processes that we identified these concerns and acted decisively in line with our clear commitment to safeguarding.

“We take allegations of wrongdoing extremely seriously and the care of our patients will always remain our top priority.”

An inspection by the Care Quality Commission in 2020 revealed eight permanent staff were also suspended after allegations of abuse, mistreatment of patients, using excessive force, or failure to report poor practice.