Nurse filmed slapping vulnerable patient struck off
Getty ImagesA nurse caught on CCTV slapping a vulnerable patient in her care has been struck off.
Catherine Ann Beevers was filmed assaulting the person, who had profound learning difficulties and needed 24-hour care, during three shifts between the end of May 2023 and early July 2023.
She was referred to the nursing regulator after an investigation by Dorset Healthcare University NHS Trust and arrested in July 2023.
Beevers admitted assault and ill-treating the person at Poole Magistrates’ Court in October 2023. She was told to complete 120 hours of unpaid work and pay £750 in compensation.
She told police she “had not realised how rough she had been and could not provide an explanation for her actions”, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) said.
She said she was “ashamed of what she saw in the video and accepted that the footage showed her assaulting [the patient]”.
The NMC said taking no action would be "wholly disproportionate” and leaving her to practice in the future “would not be sufficient to mitigate the risks in this case".
Beevers had been on the NMC's register since 1996.
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