Nurses jailed for abusing elderly patients

Two British nurses have each been jailed for four months for abusing elderly and mentally ill patients at a nursing home.

Registered mental nurse Isla Irving, of Brynmenyn, Bridgend, was convicted earlier this month of seven charges of ill-treatment and one of wilful neglect on eight patients at Blackmill Nursing Home Care Centre, near Bridgend.

Her boss and manager of the home, Karen Morrell, 35, of Aberkenfig, Bridgend, was found guilty of the wilful neglect of elderly patient Alfred Davies.

Irving's offences included giving one patient a higher dose than usual of the sedative promazine and asking a part-time carer, a former handyman with no medical training, to give a 76-year-old diabetic his insulin injection for her.

Irving, 27, also neglected the request of a resident to be taken to the toilet and was found guilty of rough handling, verbal abuse and taunting patients.

Morrell did not take Mr Davies to hospital until two days after his GP said he needed hospital attention for severe bruising on his arm and ribs. When he was examined in hospital it was discovered he had two fractured ribs.

Most of the patients concerned were in their 80s and 90s and suffering from dementia during the period when the mistreatment took place, between 1997 and 1999.

Richard Twomlow, defending counsel for Irving, said her ill-treatment of the patients was not systematic or pre-meditated but had been on the "spur of the moment" - the actions of a less experienced nurse doing a difficult job under stress.

Mark Worsley, defending Morrell, said her failure to ensure Mr Davies received hospital attention was "a one-off compared to the way she normally approached her duties".

Judge David Wynn Morgan said: "The community places a considerable trust in those who have the care of the elderly and mentally infirm. In this case that trust has been abused by both of you."