A BULLYING nurse in a Widnes care home cuffed mentally handicapped patients around the head, a disciplinary hearing in London was told.

Linda Jean Gray, who was deputy manager at the nine-bed residential care home run by Alternative Futures Ltd in Moorfield Road, faced 11 charges of professional misconduct.

The Professional Conduct Committee of the UK Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting heard how she swore at patients, used excessive force, called one resident "Skeletor" and made another do domestic chores as a punishment during her employment at the home between March 1993 and March 1995.

The committee found all charges proved against her and ordered her name to be removed from the register, with immediate effect.

David Glendinning, for the UK Central Council, told the committee that Gray gained promotion in 1995 and was due to leave the home to move to another.

It was then that a resident voiced his complaint and others, who had been "too afraid" to speak up until then, came forward.

Gray was sacked after an internal investigation.

She did not attend the hearing and was not represented.

Tracey Vincent, a staff nurse at the home, said Mrs Gray had called Resident B, a middle-aged woman with severe behavioural problems, "Skeletor".

Gray's treatment of Resident A, who had an obsessive compulsive disorder, was "abusive."

One morning, Gray walked through the door, pointed her finger right into the resident's face and said: "Don't f...ing start with me, or I'll deck you."

On another occasion, she cuffed Resident A on the side of the head.

She also told Resident B to sit at a table until she had finished a meal which the resident did not want and, on a separate occasion, cuffed the woman on the head.

In the dining room, she smeared mustard on another resident's food so that she was unable to eat it.

Earlier in the hearing, Barbara Knot, who worked as a staff nurse at the home in 1994, said Gray had spoken to Resident A very aggressively and abusively and often heard her tell her that she would be "decked".

When agitated, Resident A would sometimes throw objects around and Mrs Knot said, while in the kitchen of the home, the woman threw a microwave oven at her.

She calmed the resident down and restrained her on the floor but unfortunately let her up too soon.

"As we got her on to the floor again, Linda Gray came rushing down the stairs, looking very angry," said Mrs Knot. "She dragged the patient across the floor of the dining room, into the lounge - without regard to her dignity or safety - and slammed the door of the room."

Support worker Karen Turner said Resident B was handed a meal where the meat was not cooked and rejected it. Gray had microwaved food for the staff but not the residents.

She said Resident B had been forced to sit and eat the meal and on another occasion was made to do cleaning to get her out of a trance-like state.

During the meal, the resident seemed frightened.

"She wouldn't leave the table," added Miss Turner, "and two other residents were sick."

During the incident, Miss Turner said the resident would "do a bit of cleaning, fall on to the floor then get up and do more." Gray was watching to ensure the job was done.

Support worker Colin Illingsworth said Resident B had been dubbed "Skeletor" by Gray, after a cartoon character.

The woman watched a lot of television, including cartoons, and knew what "Skeletor" meant, said Mr Illingsworth.

Gray was also seen to hit residents by Lynn Travers and described an incident in the summer of 1994 when she looked through the hatch between the kitchen and the dining room.

She saw Gray "cuff" Resident B across the face with her hand.

Other staff also told the hearing of similar cuffing incidents involving the same residents.

The deputy manager at the home, John Gillette, said Gray was now working as a mini-cab driver.

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