A BURNLEY nurse who worked in a Colne home for the elderly is facing allegations of misconduct and could be struck off, it was revealed today.

Sheila Grove, 47, faces seven allegations in relation to her work at the Grange Nursing Home in Keighley Road, between January and March 2001.

It is claimed that she maladministered drugs, left potted up medication lying around, pushed and roughly handled residents and slept while on duty at the home.

She will appear before the Nursing and Midwifery Council's Professional Conduct Committee next Friday.

At a public hearing, which will be held at the council's headquarters in London, the committee will have to decide, based on the evidence put before it, whether the events outlined in the charges did in fact take place.

If the allegations are proven the committee will then have to decide if they amount to professional misconduct, for which the nurse could be struck off and banned from working in the nursing sector.

The Keighley Road home, which cares for around 40 elderly residents, was opened in 1981. It was bought by a firm called Tamaris before being bought out by its current owners Four Seasons in 1999.

In April 2003 a former care assistant at the Grange was cleared of four charges of battery and one of assault causing actual bodily harm to patients.

Mum-of-four Christine Casey, 43, of Temple Street, who had worked at the home for five years, first as a domestic, then as a care assistant, allegedly hit and mistreated five women patients at the home during a six-week period, between May and June 2002.

She denied the charges and was found not guilty after a two- day trial at Burnley Crown Court.