Northamptonshire nurse who spilled content of child's stomach in botched school visit struck off

A Northamptonshire nurse who fumbled with the care of at least eight severely ill children across the county will not return to the job.

Jean Paterson was suspended in 2018 after a string of incidents involving her care, which were proven at a disciplinary panel.

But, after voluntarily retiring in 2021, the Nursing and Midwifery Council has formally struck her off and will not allow her to work again.

Now, a report into the decision has found how the former nurse seriously fumbled with the care of multiple severely ill children across the county in the space of at least two years.

The most serious incident occurred when nurse Paterson visited a Northamptonshire school in 2015 to assist a blind child with severe learning difficulties to change a "Y-connector" tube linked to the boy's stomach.

Reportedly, the nurse made no attempt to introduce herself or explain herself as she lifted his shirt and carried out the medical procedure.

In the events that followed, Mrs Paterson wrongly undid a clamp that led to the contents of the child's stomach to spill onto his clothes.

But the panel noted that before helping the boy, nurse Paterson instead first cleaned herself and remarked: "I guess I'm going to stink for the rest of the day now".

This incident was the first of at least nine proven charges brought by the Nursing and Midwifery Council against the former nurse.

Others incidents included making a second and third attempt to insert a child's feeding tube without asking consent or explaining what she was doing, incorrectly labelling another child's blood sample and discharging another child while she was still receiving and in need of care.

The panel summed up the charges as a "lack of competence".

When invited to attend the hearing on May 6, Mrs Paterson wrote to reply: "I have retired from nursing and have no intention of returning as a nurse."

The report by the disciplinary panel remarked there was "no new evidence" of nurse Paterson demonstrating "remediation, insight or reflection" over her failings.

It read: "In these circumstances, the panel considered that the seriousness of Mrs Paterson’s original lack of competence, taken together with her lack of insight and remediation, now meant that it had become fundamentally incompatible with her remaining on the register."