An Essex mental health nurse has been suspended for six months after failing to give a patient medicine and leaving a razor on a shelf where patients could have accessed it. 

Nurse David Woodall also did not know how to correctly dispense the required volume of liquid medication until prompted, a hearing of the Nursing and Midwifery Council was told.

The suspension was imposed during a substantive order review held by the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s fitness to practise committee on Tuesday, June 11, the report of which was published this week.

The hearing was told how Mr Woodall was previously given a current conditions of practice order which was originally imposed for a period of 18 months by a fitness to practise committee panel on December 21, 2022. That order was due to expire on July 23 and this was the first review following the order being imposed.

The order was imposed due to a number of charges and incidents being proven. On October 21 2018, he administered a patient medication from the second half of the MAR chart instead of starting from the top down, resulting in medication being omitted.

He also began to prepare medication for a patient who had not yet arrived.  On October 28, 2018, he did not respond to an alarm, the following day he did give a handover to colleagues taking over from him at the end of a shift.

Then on June 23, 2019, he did not know how to correctly dispense the required volume of liquid medication until prompted. On June 28, 2019, the nurse wanted to administer lorazepam to a patient without attempting verbal de-escalation. In another incident, Mr Woodall left a razor on the stable door shelf where patients could have accessed it.

The council’s report states: “The panel next considered the continuation of the current conditions of practice order. It noted that despite the conditions of practice order being in place for 18 months, Mr Woodall has not yet engaged with the order despite having ample opportunity to do so. Further, Mr Woodall has not demonstrated a willingness to comply with the order and that Mr Woodall last communicated with the NMC in January 2024. On this basis, the panel determined that a conditions of practice order is no longer the appropriate order in this case. 

“The panel concluded that conditions of practice are no longer workable in order to sufficiently protect the public or satisfy the wider public interest. The panel seriously considered imposing a striking-off order given Mr Woodall’s lack of insight, remediation and non-engagement with any of the recommendations made by the previous panel. However, the panel determined that Mr Woodall should be provided with a final opportunity to return to a nursing career by re-engaging with these proceedings and the NMC as his regulator. 

“The panel therefore decided that a suspension order is the most appropriate sanction at this time, which would both protect the public and satisfy the wider public interest. Accordingly, it determined to impose a suspension order for the period of six months, which would provide Mr Woodall with an opportunity to re-engage with the regulatory proceedings and comply with the suggestions made by today’s panel in order to assist the next reviewing panel. The panel considered this to be the most appropriate and proportionate sanction available.”