Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Drunk Cullen nurse to find out fate next week

Post Thumbnail

A Moray nurse will find out whether substance abuse will cost her a career at a hearing next week.

Elaine Garden, formerly employed at Cullen’s Wakefield House Care Home, has been accused of arriving at work “smelling of alcohol” on July 29 last year by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

On the same date, she is also accused of leaving a drugs trolley “unlocked and unsupervised”.

Ms Garden was also cited as being “unfit” for a shift on July 21, 2013 having taken unprescribed Tramadol – a strong pain killer which affects the brain’s chemicals and nervous system.

She will face an NMC conduct and competence committee hearing for alleged “misconduct” between December 2 and 5.

Her contract with Craigend Care was terminated following the incidents last year.

The NMC panel also handed her a 15 month suspension while they carried out investigations into the incidents.

A report to the NMC panel last year said that she “fell over whilst in the lounge, spilt coffee everywhere and attempted to speak to relatives who walked away when they couldn’t understand what she saying, as her speech was incoherent” whilst under the influence of the painkiller.

The report stated, on July 29, that she began to alarm colleagues after turning up to work under the influence.

It went on: “Ms Garden reported to the office at 8.10pm and was described by a colleague as being incoherent and unable to string two words together.

“Ms Garden allegedly smelt of alcohol and was behaving in a drunken manner.

“The colleague asked for the drugs keys but Ms Garden could not find them and they were located in the drugs trolley upstairs which was left open and unattended, albeit in a locked area.”

She is also said to have made “multiple drug errors” during that shift, making it “impossible for other staff to ascertain what had been administered”.

The incident did not cause any physical harm to patients.

A spokeswoman for Wakefield House said they were not in at liberty to make any comment about staff past or present.