A CARE home boss who allowed her boyfriend to help look after a patient has been suspended from nursing for a year.
Antoinette Galloway, former unit manager at Pentland Hill Care Home in Edinburgh, also swore at colleagues.
Mrs Galloway, 42 allowed her boyfriend to enter the care home to talk to a Spanish-speaking elderly resident as “reminiscence therapy”.
But a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) panel found that since Ms Galloway’s then-boyfriend was not vetted before being allowed in, patients could have been at risk.
Colleagues also told the the panel they saw her boyfriend feed a resident and help move the resident around the home.
The 42-year-old says she was bullied at the home and has now quit nursing.
Harm
Seven charges against Ms Galloway were found proved at an NMC hearing, including that she told a colleague “I’m the f***ing unit manager.”
The NMC panel noted: “Mrs Galloway admitted that she had “made a bad decision” in bringing [her boyfriend] into the home.”
A charge she told a colleague to “go have a w***” was not found proved.
Mrs Galloway was suspended for 12 months by the panel.
The NMC panel, chaired by Stephen Redmond, said: “The charges found proved demonstrate poor judgement and unprofessional conduct.
“By depriving her employer of the opportunity to run the necessary checks on [her boyfriend] before he attended to residents at the home, Mrs Galloway put residents at an unwarranted risk of harm.
Lies
“Her behaviour not only impacted upon her colleagues, but also showed a lack of respect for residents and her staff.
“The panel is thereby satisfied that Mrs Galloway has acted in a manner which brought the nursing profession into disrepute and acted in a manner that breached the fundamental tenets of the profession.”
Mrs Galloway, discussing the hearing last week, said: “The charges about swearing are a load of fabricated lies.
“There were two carers who I pulled up for dangerous practices, and I reported them to management.
“Another nurse who wanted my job got them on side to lie against me.”
