Telford nurse suspended over drink driving conviction
A Shropshire nurse with more than 30 years’ service has been suspended for 18 months after a tribunal board found she had been dishonest.
Margaret Mary Russell, from Telford, appeared before a hearing of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in London earlier this month.
The panel of three heard that she had been convicted at Telford Magistrates’ Court of drink driving and jailed for 12 weeks in December 2017 but had failed to disclose the conviction when she applied to re-register with the council.
Under the NMC code of conduct registrants are required to inform the NMC if they are subject to a criminal charge, caution or conviction. Every three years they registrants are required to renew their registration.
A report of the hearing said: “Your registration lapsed on March 31, 2018 because of non-payment of your registration fees. You completed an online readmission application on April 9, 2018, in which you answered ‘no’ to the question as to whether you had received any charges, cautions or convictions.
"When completing the form there is an option in relation to charges, cautions or convictions to “find out more” by clicking on a link if an applicant is unsure about how to answer this question. You were granted admission to the register with effect from May 8, 2018, on the basis of the answers given on your readmission form.
Public interest
"On October 4, 2018 the NMC received an email which alleged that you had been convicted for driving with excess alcohol and had received a prison sentence.”
At the outset of the hearing Mrs Russell admitted the charge and that the entry on the NMC register was thereby incorrectly made and fraudulently procured.
Mrs Russell was convicted of driving her car while four times over the legal limit.
Mr Rakesh Sharma, for the NMC, said this was her second excess alcohol charge and the convictions were ‘in breach’ of the NMC Code and that Mrs Russell had not acted with integrity and honesty.
Mrs Russell was represented by Mr Michael Lavers who said she there were a number of mitigating factors and said that she had undertaken a drink impaired drivers programme through the Probation Service and had admitted the charge at the first opportunity.
The interim suspension order for 18 months was made on public protection grounds and the panel considered it ‘appropriate to impose an interim order on the grounds of public interest’.
