Nurse found guilty of injecting patient with wrong vaccine - The Solihull Observer

Nurse found guilty of injecting patient with wrong vaccine

Solihull Editorial 31st Oct, 2019 Updated: 31st Oct, 2019   0

A NURSE has been found guilty of injecting a patient with the wrong vaccine.

Registered Nurse Fernanda Lucas has been handed a 12 month conditions of practice order by the Nursing and Midwife Council (NMC).

It means she will only be able to work under the supervision of a supervisor.

The order follows a hearing by the NMC panel where Ms Lucas did not attend.




The panel heard that while working at Yew Tree Medical Centre in Solihull in 2017 Ms Lucas gave a patient a hepatitis A vaccine instead of a tetanus booster.

She has also been found guilty of trying to change the entry into the patient’s vaccine record almost one month later and being dishonest.


It was also noted Ms Lucas did not complete or record a travel risk assessment.

The panel heard from a witness statement from a director of nursing for GPS Healthcare which stated: “[Patient A] confirmed that she had a received a phone call from Ms Lucas regarding the situation about a week before.

“During my phone call I asked [Patient A] to come to the surgery as she advised me that she the paperwork which showed that she had been given hepatitis A immunisation and not a tetanus when she saw [Ms Lucas] on November 22, 2017.”

This was supported with other documents including stock levels, electronic records and a print out handed to the patient at the end of the appointment.

The panel heard that during an investigation Mrs Lucas accepted she had amended the records as she realised she had inputted the incorrect vaccine onto the patient’s record and she corrected them to reflect what she believes she had administered.

A documents released after the hearing states Ms Lucas’ actions fell short of the standards expected of a registered nurse.

It also states that whilst no direct harm came to the patient as a result of Ms Lucas’ misconduct, the risk for harm was substantial.

The sanction placed on Ms Lucas will appear on the NMC register and anyone who makes an enquiries about her registration will be informed of the order.

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