Nurse suspended following care of Shoreham dementia patient

Filipe Miranda-Rego, who was working at Kingsland House Care Home in Shoreham in April, 2013, was suspended for nine months and given an 18 month interim suspension order by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) following a two-day disciplinary hearing.

Mr Mirando-Rego was accused of carrying out an ‘invasive’ manual procedure without obtaining consent from a patient with dementia, causing distress to the patient and failing to record that he carried out the procedure.

However, the panel found the patient was not ‘in distress’ at the time of the incident.

A report by the NMC states: “The procedure was witnessed by two care assistants who were in patient A’s room at the time.”

At a previous hearing, Mr Miranda-Rego told the panel Patient A had been asleep or ‘comatose’ at the time of the incident, but a colleague described the patient as ‘chatty’.

The panel said Mr Miranda-Rego’s evidence was ‘credible’ and accepted it would have been ‘inherently impossible’ the patient was in a ‘good mood’.

The NMC report states: “The panel noted that you made admissions to your failings at an early stage, soon after the time of the incidents.

“The panel noted that you had previous experience in carrying out such a procedure on patients in a different country and that you appeared to be a knowledgeable practitioner.

“However, the panel further considered that the facts found proved were serious and involved a vulnerable patient.”

The panel also said Mr Miranda-Rego did not ask for advice from the community matron or from Patient A’s GP. The panel said it was ‘mindful’ Mr Miranda-Rego had tried to seek consent for the procedure from a family friend of Patient A while her son was away.

The report continues: “The panel determined that, absent of any remediation, there remains a risk of repetition of the serious failings found proved and consequently there is an unwarranted risk of harm to patients.”

The panel heard Patient A suffered no ‘adverse consequences’ from Mr Rego’s actions. Mr Miranda-Rego was dismissed for gross misconduct from Kingsland House Care Home in September.

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