A nurse who secretly filmed for the BBC to reveal the neglect of elderly patients at a hospital has been struck off for misconduct...
She was struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council which said she failed to "follow her obligations as a nurse". Ms Haywood, a nurse for over 20 years, said she thought she had been treated harshly and had put patients first... The chair of the panel, Linda Read, said Ms Haywood had prioritised the filming, which in the view of the panel "was a major breach of the code of conduct"...
Elizabeth Bloor, the BBC programme's producer, told the hearing there had been "an over-arching public interest" to produce the Undercover Nurse documentary because Panorama had received up to 5,000 complaints about conditions. She also said that questions had been asked in the House of Commons about the issues investigated, and the Royal College of Nursing conducted research into patient dignity on hospital wards in the wake of its broadcast...
The decision was criticised by Joyce Robins, co-director of Patient Concern. She said: "This just demonstrates the priorities of the regulators - rules come before patients every time. The message that goes out to nurses is: however badly you see patients treated, keep your face shut. This makes total nonsense of all the talk about openness and transparency in the NHS. Cover-up is the order of the game."
Ms Haywood's actions were also defended by Gary Fitzgerald, chief executive of Action on Elder Abuse. He said: "We know that we're seeing older people suffering the most appalling care and neglect too often in our care environments. In that context I believe what Margaret Haywood did and what Panorama did was right and proper. She said the public needs to be aware of what exactly's going on in these places, in these wards, we didn't have any other way of telling them and I think that's the point".
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