Caution for nurse over cover-up on medication

A manager at a Walsall care home accused of encouraging a colleague to film a dementia patient for fun has escaped with a caution on a separate matter.

Karen Leadbeater, 38, allegedly told care assistant Katie Fletcher it would be funny to record an elderly patient at Parklands Court Nursing Home in Bloxwich who was having an outburst.

But the Nursing and Midwifery Council dismissed the claim over a lack of evidence along with accusations she made offensive remarks to staff and threatened to stop people's wages if they did not respect her, all said to have taken place between April 2004 and September 2006.

But the nurse, from Cannock, was given a caution for the maximum period of five years after admitting hiding medication in a colleague's car to stop it being seen by inspectors.

She claimed bosses at the Parklands Court Nursing Home asked her to dispose of the medication in January 2006.

But she admitted asking care assistant, Victoria Nicholls, if she could store it in her car until after the inspection so she would not get into trouble.

The panel was told Leadbeater, who did not attend the hearing, is no longer working as a nurse.