A SENIOR nurse has been cautioned after a mentally ill girl was found storing her excrement under a duvet and wardrobe.
Ward manager Charlotte Proctor was given a two-year caution after she failed to properly instruct her staff to care for a young female patient with obsessive compulsive disorder.
Ms Proctor was working for NHS Notts Healthcare at the time of the incident, which happened between February 12, 2010, and March 17 the same year, but her case was only heard by the Nursing and Midwifery Council this week.
The hearing focused on the care of a young female patient with obsessive compulsive disorder, who was named in the paperwork as 'Patient A'.
The medical council heard that staff were "shocked" when they found "faeces hidden underneath the wardrobe" and "under the duvet".
The midwifery council heard evidence from Patient A's mum who described the smell on entering her bedroom as "horrendous" and that it "made her gag".
And a colleague of Ms Proctor's told the midwifery council that staff at the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit were simply not checking Patient A's room.
"Patient A would not allow staff to enter her room so staff members only did a quick sight view," she said.
Ms Proctor defended her decision not to wash Patient A by saying it would have caused her stress, but the panel disagreed and concluded that more should have been done to try to clean her.
A report of the hearing by the Nursing and Midwifery Council said of Ms Proctor: "You as the ward manager were responsible for the poor level of overall care that was provided to Patient A.
"The state of Patient A's room and the smell of Patient A would have been noticeable to staff yet no action was taken by you to ensure the correct level of care was being provided."
In Ms Proctor's defence the council took into consideration that she had an unblemished nursing record, that she deeply regretted her behaviour and had learned from her mistakes.
A spokesman for NHS Notts Healthcare said it would not comment on the case because Ms Proctor left the trust in early February.
