Nurse who drugged hospital stroke unit patients struck off register

A nurse who illegally drugged patients on a hospital stroke unit for an “easy life” has been struck off the nursing register.

Catherine Hudson was jailed for seven years and two months in December 2023 for illegally sedating two patients at Blackpool Victoria Hospital and conspiring with a junior colleague to sedate a third.

Now she has been struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) at a hearing held this week.

Police were alerted by hospital chiefs in November 2018 after a student nurse on a work placement said Hudson suggested administering unprescribed zopiclone, a sleeping pill, to an elderly patient, Preston Crown Court heard during her sentencing.

Hudson wrote about one of her victims in a Whatsapp message: “I sedated one of them to within an inch of her life lol. Bet she’s flat for a week haha xxx.”

Hudson was found guilty by a jury of three counts of ill-treating patients and she was also convicted of conspiring with her junior colleague to inappropriately sedate another patient.

Hudson admitted a number of offences of conspiring to steal drugs and medication from the hospital and perverting the course of justice.

The judge said during sentencing of a patient: “Her illness was to be mocked and her vulnerability was to be exploited to give them an easy life.”

The nursing misconduct panel found Hudson’s “ill-treatment of vulnerable stroke patients over a prolonged period of time particularly deplorable”, a report published this week said.

And in light of the seriousness of the convictions and there being no evidence of insight, remorse or strengthening of practice, the panel determined there was a high risk of Hudson’s behaviour being repeated.

A report from the misconduct hearing said: “Mrs Hudson’s actions were significant departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse and in the panel’s judgement they were fundamentally incompatible with her remaining on the register.

“The panel was of the view that a member of the public would find it morally reprehensible if a nurse were allowed to practise having been convicted of ill-treatment of patients, theft of drugs and perverting the course of justice.”

As the striking-off order cannot take effect until the end of the 28-day appeal period, the panel imposed an interim suspension order for a period of 18 months to cover any potential period of appeal.