Lessons must be learned (From Warrington Guardian)

Lessons must be learned

AS Crewe nurse Barbara Salisbury begins a five-year prison term this week, Leighton Hospital bosses have promised to learn lessons from her 'appalling example'.

Salisbury, 48, was jailed at Chester Crown Court on Friday for attempting to murder elderly patients Frank Owen and May Taylor in 2002.

She was acquitted of trying to kill James Byrne and Reuben Thompson.

The nurse was found guilty of trying to deliver deadly doses of painkillers despite the fact her patients did not need them.

After the verdict Leighton Hospital boss Simon Yates said: "This is an appalling situation and in almost 30 years of a career working in the NHS I've never personally come across anything like this.

"Barbara Salisbury has been a disgrace, Barbara Salisbury has let down her friends, her colleagues and the whole of the National Health Service."

Now to be formally dismissed from Leighton, Salisbury will also face a misconduct hearing by her professional body, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, which has the power to bar her from working as a nurse.

At the time of the offences Salisbury was employed as a junior nursing sister on Ward 4 at Leighton, a general medical ward.

By May 2002 hospital authorities had received a string of allegations from Salisbury's colleagues about her clinical practice.

Hospital bosses contacted police who launched an exhaustive investigation into the nurse's behaviour, checking medical records and interviewing her colleagues.

Mr Yates said he was pleased that the staff felt confident enough to come forward and express their concerns about what Salisbury was doing.

But asked how he could be sure it would not happen again, Mr Yates said: "I suppose I could never say that this could never happen again.

"But this is such an incredibly rare occurrence in the National Health Service.

"What we do have to do is make sure there are policies and procedures which are continually kept up to date, and increasingly that staff in the hospital are able to feel confident that they can come forward with concerns about colleagues.

"Now that we know that Barbara Salisbury has been found guilty of these crimes, we need to undertake our own investigation."