A nurse who put a patient's glass eye in a ward sister's drink, painted a smiley face on another patient's fist-sized hernia and falsified patient records with a "magic pen" was banned from nursing yesterday.
Christine Mitchelson, 53, was also said to have made racist remarks about her colleagues and to have roughly treated five patients by pushing them on to a bed or chair and in one case slapping one on the head.
Members of the Nursing and Midwifery Council's conduct and competence committee found all 12 allegations against her proved and ordered that her name should be struck from the official register.
Val Morrison, the committee chairman, said Ms Mitchelson posed a continuing risk to patients, and leaving her on the register would undermine public confidence and trust in the profession.
"The charges involved putting patients at risk, dishonesty, falsification of records and encouragement of healthcare assistants to adopt her practice in falsifying records, unsafe practice and unprofessional behaviour towards colleagues," she said.
The committee ruled that Ms Mitchelson had "compromised the dignity" of her patients at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary between late 2001 and early 2004.
A nursing assistant, Denise Lake, said Ms Mitchelson had used to joke about having a "magic pen" which she used to fill in patients' charts without checking their observations. "She used to laugh about it," Ms Lake said.
She claimed Ms Mitchelson had asked her and other healthcare assistants to "save time" by recording' observations about patients without carrying out the checks.
The hearing in London was told that Ms Mitchelson had given her colleague Pauline Stanton a cup of cola containing the glass eye between March 2001 and May 2002.
She said she had asked the patient's permission to take the false eye for a practical joke and had washed it before putting it in the drink, the committee was told. The committee also decided Ms Mitchelson could have put a patient with MRSA at risk by drawing the face on his hernia.
Piers Arnold, representing the NMC, said the allegations had come to light in February 2004.
An investigation was launched and "numerous allegations" against her were made. She was suspended in March 2004 and resigned two months later, before a disciplinary hearing could be held.
Ms Mitchelson found a new job with a care home in Newcastle, but was dismissed after Royal Victoria managers wrote an "alert letter" warning of serious concerns about her conduct.
The committee also made an interim suspension order immediately banning her from practising as a nurse until she is formally struck off.
