South London nurse who refused to give a patient care temporarily struck off

A South London nurse who refused to look after a patient because she felt she'd cared for enough people already that day has been struck off for a year. 

King's College Hospital nurse Hannah Kargbo wrongly told a senior nurse that she only had to look after six patients per day when she refused to care for the person in 2018, minutes of a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) disciplinary hearing reveal. A panel described her behaviour as "unprofessional" but added it was "not serious enough to amount to misconduct," noting that it was an isolated incident. 

Ms Kargbo, who failed to attend the hearing which took place over eight days in May, was also found to have given a patient an antibiotic they were allergic to and put drops in the wrong eye of another patient during her time working at the NHS trust. 

The panel said there would be a "risk to patient safety" if Ms Kargbo was allowed to continue practising. It added: "In these circumstances, the panel considered that a suspension order would protect the public. 

"It also considered that a suspension order would give Ms Kargbo the opportunity to reflect on her own nursing practice and the seriousness of the concerns in this case and to take steps towards remediating and addressing the issues identified."

Ms Kargbo, who started working at the hospital trust in 2012, failed to check a patient's medical records or allergy wristband before giving them the antibiotic metronidazole in 2018. The woman, known only as patient A, developed a rash on her body after Ms Kargbo gave her the drug. 

Following the incident, Ms Kargob had to undertake retraining on the administration of medicines. A senior nurse told the hearing that the course should have taken two weeks to complete but it took Ms Kargbo six months and "five or six" attempts to finish the training.

When Ms Kargbo was later moved into a spare role as a result of her mistakes, another nurse said she appeared angry about being reassigned. The theatre nurse told the hearing that Ms Kargbo was reluctant to learn and refused to engage with the mentorship scheme.

At the end of Ms Kargbo's 12 month suspension, another panel will meet to review her case. The panel will have the option of maintaining Ms Kargbo's ban, allowing her to return to work or imposing different conditions.