A NURSE was cleared of misconduct after colleagues accused her of failing to provide adequate help to a patient who had stopped breathing.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) found the main charge against Vineetha Pachanal John, who worked at the Royal Blackburn Hospital, was not proved in a three-day hearing.

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She was also cleared of failing to pull an emergency buzzer and ensure the cardiac arrest team were called for the same patient, who died on Ward C7 at the Royal Blackburn Hospital, on the night of July 22, 2013.

In relation to the main allegation, the misconduct panel said there was ‘confusion’ as to whether the patient was breathing or not when Mrs Pachanal John was said to have failed to respond properly.

It found one witness, a health care assistant on the ward, to be ‘defensive’ when giving evidence, while evidence from another nurse was ‘inconsistent’.

Meanwhile, it was not clear why the matron who investigated the incident had not interviewed other staff members who were on duty the following day.

The panel also found Mrs Pachanal John responded as soon as she could to the emergency buzzer.

She admitted making inconsistent records on a prescription chart and care notes the next day, and failing to make contemporaneous records in the patient’s observations scores and pain assessment charts, but the NMC found this did not amount to misconduct.

She now works at Springhill Care Home in Accrington, where bosses described her as a ‘tremendously skilled’ nurse and a ‘real asset’ to her workforce’. The NMC said Springhill supplied a bundle which contained a ‘large number of glowing references from patients and their families, very positive testimonials from work colleagues, past and present and a number of training certificates’ as well as training certificates.

It said the findings against her related to ‘a narrow band of time’ during a very busy shift at the Royal Blackburn, and there had been a lack of support from her colleagues. She always tried to do what was best for the patient, it added.

Mrs Pachanal John did not wish to comment when approached by the Lancashire Telegraph.