A nurse has been kicked out of the profession for sleeping in a patient's bed while on duty at an Oxford hospital.
David Jones, 60, tucked himself up in a patient's bed and slept for hours, leaving two unqualified colleagues to care for 17 mental health patients, a hearing was told.
He was in charge of the ward and later smoked a cigarette outside while elderly mentally impaired patients were left to wander around unattended, it is claimed. He also failed to support two care assistants during the shift, leaving them to cope with a man who was aggressive and needed constant supervision, as well as 16 other patients.
The alleged incidents took place while Jones was working as an agency nurse for NHS Professionals in the Fullbrook Centre, at the Churchill Hospital, in Headington.
The nurse, from Benson, did not attend the central London hearing yesterday of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and was not represented.
He claimed he has no intention of working as a nurse again.
Jones admitted giving a female patient unprescribed medication because he could not find the sleeping tablet she had been prescribed, but denied sleeping on duty and failing to supply adequate support to care assistants.
Jamie Foster, for the NMC, said the alleged incidents took place during night duty on July 2, 2003, at the Cherwell Ward, a 17-bed mixed sex ward for elderly people suffering mental health problems.
Striking Jones from the nursing register, chairman Professor Paul Lewis said: "The unprofessional behaviour of nurse Jones was of a very serious nature and placed vulnerable patients and staff at risk."
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