Nurse Left Patient Naked On Bed During Tea Break

A male nurse left a female patient in a high dependency unit lying on a bed naked on a towel and covered only by a sheet while he took a tea break, a disciplinary tribunal heard yesterday.

Mikhail Gvozdinsky, 55, is also alleged to have removed a patient from his bed against his wishes and offered a young man with brain injuries a diazepam tablet which he was not prescribed.

Gvozdinsky, who lives in Aberdeen but who is originally from Moldova, faces a catalogue of misconduct charges.

They relate to incidents said to have happened while he worked as a staff nurse at Aberdeen’s Woodend Hospital between October 2002 and February 2003 and at the city’s Royal Infirmary in July 2003.

A two-day Nursing and Midwifery Council Fitness To Practice hearing got under way in Aberdeen yesterday.

If found guilty Gvozdinsky, who is aware of the hearing but was not present yesterday, could be struck off the council’s register. The tribunal heard Gvozdinsky was employed in October 2002 as a staff nurse at Woodend Hospital’s Maidencraig unit – a rehabilitation centre for people with neurological injuries.

Staff nurse Lindsay Anderson said Gvozdinsky would often take late tea breaks. She said this could cause problems as the nursing team at the 16-bed unit were meant to work in pairs when looking after patients.

Mrs Anderson said Gvozdinsky had washed a patient one day then disappeared.

“He had meant to dress her but forgot he was meant to go for tea,” she added.

Mrs Anderson, who found the patient, added: “She was naked but she had her dignity – she had a sheet over her and a towel underneath.”

Another nurse, Jacqueline Jolly, said one man always had his tea in bed because he became too tired to eat at the table.

She said she had discovered him “very distressed” in the dining room one day.

“To my knowledge, Mikhail got that particular patient up without his consent, took him through to the dining room and left him there with his meal in front of him, unable to feed himself,” she added.

Mrs Jolly added that the patient later told her he “felt intimidated” by Gvozdinsky.

Maidencraig ward manager Carol Christie said concerns had been raised about Gvozdinsky after he joined as a staff nurse in October 2002. She said it had been reported to her that he had offered a young patient with a brain injury a diazepam.

Mrs Christie said the patient could not make a choice about his medication and would say “yes” to everything.

“It was inappropriate to turn round and ask him if he wanted diazepam,” she added.

When she confronted Gvozdinsky about it she said he was dismissive. “He ended up just walking away and saying it was a big deal over nothing because he had not given it.

Another nurse, Stephanie Ward, was assigned to mentor Gvozdinsky at Maidencraig.

She said he had given a patient dry tablets before flushing the cup of water, which the man was meant to swallow, into his gastronomy feeding tube. She said Gvozindsky had been aware the patient was no longer receiving liquid by that means.

Describing his reaction when she mentioned the matter, Mrs Ward said: “He chuckled and said ‘I put the tablets in the mouth and the liquid in the tube’ and walked off.”

Mrs Ward said Gvozdinsky had taken offence when she gave him advice on how to clean another patient’s wound.

“He stomped out of the ward and said he would find somebody else who knew what they were talking about,” she said.

The inquiry continues.