Marie Needham with her husband John, who acted as her defence spokesman. DA4788P2TISBURY staff nurse Marie Needham is celebrating the successful end of a four-year battle for justice, after the Nursing and Midwifery Council decided her name should not be removed from the nursing register.

Mrs Needham had admitted a series of blunders, which included sparking a ward emergency at Salisbury District Hospital, when she gave a patient ten times the correct dose of insulin.

The 48-year-old mother, who lives in Cuffs Lane, Tisbury, was struck off the register for misconduct but she claimed she had been blackballed by the profession following her mistakes between 1999 and 2000 culminating in her being struck off.

The newly qualified staff nurse then began a legal battle to clear her name, maintaining the original decision had been too harsh and failed to take into account her stress-related illness.

New hearing

A High Court judge ordered a new hearing because the Nursing and Midwifery Council failed to give detailed reasons for striking her off.

He ordered another professional conduct committee to reconsider her errors made between September 1999 and January 2000.

On Thursday, Mrs Needham broke down in tears and hugged husband John, who had acted as her defence spokesman throughout the hearings, as committee chairman Valerie Morrison said that, although the nurse was guilty of misconduct, her name should not be removed from the register.

Speaking to the Journal after the decision, Mrs Needham said: "I am so happy. I could not help bursting into tears. It was such a relief, after four years of hell. My life has been on hold and everything has been in limbo.

"Now I just want to take my nursing career forward."

Mrs Needham said she owed so much to her husband and to those nursing colleagues who had supported her throughout.

She said: "I would not have been able to go through with this without their help.

"A lot of lies were told about me at the time and I could not defend myself.

"This was a case of the little person against the big boys.

"A lot of people would not have been able to do what I did because they did not have the support and would have abandoned their fight.

Support

"I had the support and the belief of others and carried on fighting and, incredibly, in the end, came out the winner."

Mrs Needham had admitted a series of blunders, which led to six charges of misconduct.

She said that she had only been allowed to administer drugs under supervision but had misinterpreted a senior colleague's orders.

She had set up a pump to deliver 30ml of the drug instead of the 3ml dose the patient was supposed to receive.

During the fresh hearing, Mrs Needham said the earlier committee had failed to take into account her stress-related illness.

She said: "When someone is stressed, they lose awareness."

She said she had never had a problem accepting supervision but said she felt her nursing colleagues had "talked about her behind her back" and ostracised her.

She said this had started after an internal disciplinary hearing at the hospital in January 2000, the day before her pump blunder.

Living nightmare

She said she had felt bullied and threatened in her role and that her life had become a "living nightmare" after the insulin error.

She said she was not functioning properly, as she already faced "scary" internal inquiries over the mistakes.

She said there had been a total lack of support from her colleagues, which had increased her stress and the number of mistakes she made.

Mrs Needham claimed that the effect her health problems had on her professional performance was not discussed.

No assessment

"There was no assessment of whether I was fit to practise or not - that never came up," she said.

"I stated at that meeting that I was totally traumatised and was not in a state to make any decision about what I wanted."

She said the disciplinary hearing had been totally inappropriate and should not have taken place until after a proper clinical investigation.

She told the hearing: "It was totally improper and against the Nursing and Midwifery Council's guidelines."

Announcing the decision not to strike her from the register, Mrs Morrison said Mrs Needham would instead be cautioned.

Admission

"You have admitted the facts and misconduct in relation to the six charges, where the outcome could have been serious and had life-threatening consequences for patients in your care," Mrs Morrison said.

"But the committee has taken into account the stress brought about in your working environment at the time."

Mrs Morrison said the panel had been impressed by references from Guys Marsh Prison, near Shaftesbury, where Mrs Needham works as an agency nurse and where she is regarded as a model professional.

Mrs Needham has worked at the prison for the past nine months, looking after the welfare of 650 inmates at the prison health centre.

She told the Journal: "I am happy there and want to remain there.

"I want to take advantage of the training that is available and to take my career forward."