Nurse who swiped food from the trays of sick patients and left a dying man to ... trends now

A nurse who swiped food from patients and left a dying man to go on a break has been struck off the nursing register. 

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) heard how Theresa Bacon would take 'cakes and puddings' from sick patients and ignored one woman's tearful request to change her dressings, telling her: 'Tears don't work for me.'

Bacon, who worked at the Royal Blackburn Hospital, in Lancashire, even asked one patient to get her coffee. 

The NMC found all 17 allegations against her proven and East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust responded by stressing they acted quickly when concerns were raised.

The trust first referred Bacon to the NMC in May 2020 said investigators spoke to her colleagues and heard key evidence in her dealings with two patients - a man called Patient A and a woman called 'Patient B'.

Bacon's conduct towards 'Patient A' was the most serious complaint, who began experiencing breathing difficulties on  April 28 2019. 

The NMC heard how  a health care assistant (HCA) - referred to as 'Witness five' - approached Ms Bacon several times asking for help with the man but Band five nurse Bacon 'failed to respond in a timely manner'.

She was described as 'uninterested' and as having given Witness five 'the brush off'.

When she did come back to help, Ms Bacon placed an oxygen mask on Patient A and left Witness five and another HCA to tend to him while she went on a break.

Another nurse, referred to as Witness 3, told investigators: 'I couldn't believe she had just gone to break. It was a completely incorrect action to take.

'If the patient was in my care, I would have been checking their observations and staying with them to monitor their breathing; I would have called a doctor.'

Bacon ultimately had to be called back from her break when Patient A stopped breathing - she also failed to explain the reasoning for the oxygen mask in care notes. 

Witness five told investigators how Bacon 'regularly' took food intended for patients, they said: 'She would always have pockets full of food.

'I have seen her look for her keys in her pockets, and take out all the patient food she has stored in them before finding her key.'

Witness five also described how Bacon would sometimes 'act like she was helping' hand out the trays of food to patients so she could 'access cakes off them'.