A head nurse who stuffed paper towels into a dementia sufferer’s MOUTH to make her ”shut up” faces being struck off for life.
Nigel Philips, 58, rammed the cleaning wipes into the vulnerable lady’s face as he treated cuts on her hands.
He also pulled her fingers back at Brierton Lodge in Hartlepool, County Durham – where he was the head of mental nursing.
Philips accepted a police caution after he admitted carrying out the attack on November 27 – and now faces being struck off.
In a report by a Conduct and Competence Committee at the Nursing and Midwifery Council said: “Mr Phillips was at the time a senior nurse with considerable experience who should have been able to be relied upon to provide care to vulnerable patients.
”It is alleged that whilst tending to cuts on the fingers of a vulnerable female, elderly resident with dementia, Mr Phillips bent her fingers back and forcefully squeezed her hand, shouted in her face to ‘shut up’ and stuffed a paper towel in her mouth.”
A BUPA spokesperson for the home said: “Our residents’ well being is our number one priority. We acted immediately, removed the nurse from the home and reported him to the relevant authorities.”
