DT News - UK - Nurse from practice with largest recall suspended for life

Dental Tribune UK

Thu. 24 August 2017

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LONDON, UK: A dental nurse working for a Nottingham dentist responsible for the largest recall of patients in NHS history has been suspended from practice indefinitely. The decision came after a hearing by the General Dental Council (GDC) last week after her initial suspension in 2016.

The nurse was accused of having put patients at risk by failing to ensure that an adequate standard of cross-infection control was maintained at the practice in which she worked in 2014. According to the GDC, she has not engaged with the regulatory body to remedy her failings and does not wish to practise as a dental nurse again.

“I feel I have let myself down as a dental nurse as well as my patients, although I would never intentionally do anything to put their health at risk. We were a very busy practice and I often felt it was almost impossible to meet CQC [Care Quality Commission] standards at all times due to the amount of patients coming through the door,” she stated in a letter sent to the GDC.

The nurse’s former employer was removed for reasons of misconduct owing to 55 allegations of failure to maintain basic standards of infection control or prescribe antibiotics without a thorough assessment of patients’ needs. As a result, more than 22,000 patients were offered a recall for blood tests owing to the risk of exposure to infection in 2014.

The dentist’s actions were revealed by a whistle-blower, who recorded some of the failings on video. The filmings showed that he did not change his gloves or surgical mask and wiped his hands on his trousers instead of washing them, among other gravely hazardous practices.

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