A nurse who is accused of failing to report an alleged sexual assault within a north-east care home is battling to save her career.
Patricia Connolly is said not to have informed senior managers that a patient had told her they had been sexually assaulted, despite the alleged victim claiming that two members of staff had been responsible.
It is further alleged she failed to complete an incident report form, and in doing so her fitness to practice has been impaired.
She could be struck off if the Nursing and Midwifery Council find the case against her proven later this month.
But last night the mother-of-five, of Peterhead, insisted she had reported the complaint – and that she had been made a “scapegoat”.
She said she had reported the patient’s complaint no less than three times to colleagues, and blamed a lack of clarity on the care home’s part for how staff should deal with allegations of rape.
“The patient had only been admitted the day before,” she said.
“She had a lot of mental health problems, paranoia and everything. The next day, she told me that she had been sexually assaulted by two carers.
“But she had no emotion on her face, she wasn’t upset or anything like that. I didn’t really know where to go with the allegation. I spoke with the other nurse who was on duty, but we both didn’t really know what to do about it.”
Ms Connolly claims she even ran the complaint past one of the patient’s former nurses who told her that “she probably had made it up”.
Ms Connolly eventually told a supervisor the next day, but still found herself sacked for gross misconduct.
“It was reported,” she added.
“I did report it. I’ve pleaded not guilty to all the charges because I did report it. They’re saying I should have reported it to the manager on the Saturday, but I didn’t know the protocol.
“I was made a scapegoat to be quite honest.”
Ms Connolly – who had longed to be a nurse before graduating from the Robert Gordon University in 2008 – now hopes the hearing in Edinburgh will prove she has done nothing wrong so he can continue her career.
Since being sacked by the care home, Ms Connolly has worked briefly for another care provider but was released when it was discovered she would face a misconduct hearing.
The single mother has been suspended from carrying out any caring or nursing duties in the meantime.
Describing the period since the incident, which allegedly happened on March 28 last year, as being a “living hell”, Ms Connolly hopes her peers will agree with her version of events.
She said: “I’m just hoping to get my nursing pin back, but I’ll never work in another care home.”
This story was updated on 18/10/2022, replacing “rape” with “sexual assault” to reflect the precise wording of the charge. In June 2016 the NMC found Ms Connolly’s fitness to practise was impaired by reason of her misconduct, namely that “on 28 March 2015, following a disclosure made to you by Resident B whereby Resident B alleged that she had been raped and/or sexually assaulted by male carers” Ms Connolly “did not escalate the allegation to the Home Manager and/or Deputy Home Manager”.
