IA NURSE in charge of patients with learning difficulties at a St Albans hospital has been struck off the national nursing register after being found guilty of misconduct relating to their money.
Staff nurse Glenda Walls, who was in charge of a ward of 27 women at Beech House, Cell Barnes Hospital, was banished from the register on Thursday, after a disciplinary committee heard she could not explain mystery cash withdrawals totalling almost £2,000 from patients' accounts.
Mary Uprichards, chairman of the professional conduct committee of the UK Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting, said: "The committee has decided to remove Ms Walls' name from its register with immediate effect."
The hearing was told that Ms Walls, who was in charge of the ward between July 1995 and May 1996, offered only "dumb silence" when quizzed by her superiors about the missing money.
The irregularities first came to light when the ward manager, Lorraine Jenkins, returned to work in May 1996 and found the books which logged patients' cash transactions were not filled out correctly and one was missing.
When, following an investigation, Ms Walls was questioned about the irregularities, she was unable to offer any explanation at all.
Mrs Jenkins told the hearing: "I remember quite clearly talking to Ms Walls. I said, do you realise that you haven't followed the procedure. She openly admitted she hadn't followed procedure but she couldn't explain why."
Laila Namdarkhan, the service manager at Horizon NHS Trust, which ran Beech House, questioned Ms Walls about the withdrawals and recalled: "There would be long silences when we discussed the relevant amounts, there would be almost dumb silences and she would not answer."
Ms Walls was dismissed from her post after the investigations in November 1996 - after 18 years of service to the hospital.
On Thursday she was found guilty in her absence of three charges of misconduct.
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