Former KGH nurse struck off after falsely claiming she held qualifications to gain promotion

Nicola Green worked at KGH between 2007 and 2014 and was promoted to heart failure specialist nurse in 2013, but resigned after concerns were raised around her knowledge of medications.

Eleven of the 13 charges Mrs Green faced were proven at a three-day Nursing and Midwifery Council hearing in London, which she didn’t attend.

The hearing decided Mrs Green fraudulently stated on her application that she held two qualifications from Northampton University and three from Essex University.

A subsequent investigation found that a number of qualifications she had claimed to hold didn’t even exist and that when asked for certificates, Mrs Green said they were destroyed in a fire.

She had claimed that the qualifications existed, but that as they were achieved some years ago she may have worded them wrongly.

But a search of Essex University’s database found the college had never offered a course entitled Critical Care 920 or a course with a similar name.

She had also claimed to have undertaken a non-medical prescribing course despite only taking a supplementary prescribing course.

Mrs Green also falsely stated she had completed two formal study programmes at Northampton University, as opposed to one-day workshops.

The panel rejected her statement that she was unable to prove her claims with paper copies as they were destroyed by a fire, and that she had filled in the application to the best of her memory.

However, it was accepted that one qualification that she stated she held was not materially different to one she in fact did hold.

Mrs Green admitted four misconduct charges after wrongly recording information and recommending incorrect doses of medications.

The panel heard that a fellow member of staff raised concerns about Mrs Green’s practice and stated that on one occasion she had said words to the effect of “it’s like being back at school”.

It was made clear that Mrs Green was not able to carry out basic aspects of her role and her overall conduct put patients at an unwarranted risk of harm, and that by acting dishonestly she pursued her personal interest in furthering her career rather than putting the interests of patients first.

The panel received no evidence of remorse and determined that her fitness to practice is impaired by reason of her misconduct.

She was given a striking off order and an interim suspension order of 18 months to cover any term of appeal.

Kettering General Hospital’s director of nursing and quality, Leanne Hackshall assured people that nobody was harmed by Mrs Green’s actions.

She said: “Nicola Green was employed at the trust as a heart failure nurse specialist but resigned on January 7, 2014, following concerns raised regarding her professional conduct and clinical practice.

“Due to the vigilance and processes within the trust’s heart failure team patients did not come to harm as a result of this nurse’s actions.”