There has been significant media interest concerning the decision of an independent panel of the Nursing & Midwifery Council’s Conduct and Competence Committee to strike off Margaret Haywood from the register.
A patient should be able to trust a nurse with his/her physical condition and psychological wellbeing without that confidential information being disclosed to others. Only in the most exceptional circumstances should the cardinal principle of patient confidentiality be breached.
Based upon the evidence it heard, the independent panel did not believe that this was the case and although the conditions on the ward were serious, it was not necessary to breach confidentiality to seek to improve them by the method chosen.
The panel believed that the method was unlikely to benefit the patients that were on the ward at the time of filming and under Margaret Haywood’s care.
The view of the panel was that Margaret Haywood’s actions in breaching patient confidentiality represented a major breach of ‘The Code: Standards of conduct, performance and ethics for nurses and midwives’ by which all nurses and midwives must abide. The independent Panel decided that Margaret Haywood’s fitness to practise was impaired by reason of misconduct.
The Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) is an independent body and receives no government funding. We can only consider complaints regarding the practise of individual nurses and midwives such as the complaint made by Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust regarding Margaret Haywood.
The NMC received two complaints about nurses from Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, one of whom was Margaret Haywood. The other nurse, Sunil Koomkhwa, received a caution for acting in an aggressive manner towards a male patient.
Read the full Reasons from the Sunil Koomkhwa hearing.
It is our understanding that the Healthcare Commission, the organisation formerly responsible for complaints about NHS hospitals, looked into the allegations made in the Panorama broadcast in 2005.
As we cannot comment on any action taken by the Healthcare Commission, you may wish to contact the Care Quality Commission which is the organisation which has succeeded the Healthcare Commission.
Margaret Haywood has formally made an appeal to the High Court. As this case is now subject to a legal appeal process, the NMC cannot comment any further on this case as we would not wish to prejudice the outcome of the appeal.
First created: 17/04/2009
Last modified: 11/05/2009