Nigerian Nurse: Eleyn Agbeko Who Thought Dead Patient was Asleep CAN Carry on Working

A nurse at scandal-hit Stafford Hospital escaped being struck off yesterday after she claimed that a dead patient was sleeping.

Evelyn Agbeko had found the 81-year-old woman unresponsive.

However, she did not try chest ­compressions or call the hospital’s resuscitation team, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard.

Agbeko wrote in her notes that the patient was asleep between 4am and 6am, but she died at 3am.

The panel heard Agbeko failed to provide “basic life support” and that her actions “fell seriously short of the conduct expected of a nurse”.

But the regulator ruled she could continue working as a nurse if she completed a course in basic life support within six months.

She no longer works at Stafford Hospital, where police are currently investigating up to 300 deaths due to evidence they may have been caused by neglect. It is not known if Agbeko’s patient is among them.

The woman, known as Patient A, was on dialysis after being admitted to A&E with breathing difficulties in April 2010.

When her condition did not improve she was sent to the ward where Agbeko was in charge.

Panel chairman Martin Parker said: “She failed to provide fundamental nursing care to Patient A and has shown a limited amount of insight throughout the NMC proceedings.”

Agbeko was found guilty of misconduct at the Central London hearing, but Mr Parker said it would not be “in the public interest” to remove a registered nurse over a one-off incident.

It is understood Agbeko now works at a care home.

Another nurse, Theresia Van Der Knaap, was also found guilty of misconduct over Patient A’s care and given a two-year caution order. She also no longer works at Stafford.

Colin Ovington, the trust’s nursing boss, said it “does not tolerate poor care”.