'Nasty' nurse who bullied care home patients is struck off

'Nasty' nurse who bullied care home patients is struck off



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A 'nasty' nurse who told a colleague not to talk to white members of staff and bullied care home residents has been struck off.

Maisie Gabriel-Allison shouted 'How many times? Don't talk to these white people' when ever a black nurse chatted with white colleagues in the staff kitchen.

One patient was left in tears after Gabriel-Allison criticised her clothes, saying: 'Look at you'.



Her colleague Theresa Dcaccia, who refused to give residents drinks and snatched cups of tea from them at Ross House in Birmingham, has also been banned from the profession.

The facility was part of the Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council heard one of the nurses bullied by the pair, referred to as Ms 2, describe it was 'like Christmas' whenever they were not working.

She described witnessing Gabriel-Allison verbally attacking a patient over her outfit so badly she 'refused to eat'.

She said: 'I saw Maisie say to her about what she was wearing, she said "look at yourself" in a nasty way and this made her cry.'

Ms 2 continued: 'I regularly saw Maisie order service users around, Gabriel-Allison would use a very loud and intimidating voice.'



This was echoed by another staff member, known as Ms 4, who told the hearing Gabriel-Allison was 'Quite intimidating towards other people'.

She said: 'The bullying became too bad and I reduced my hours. I had been psychologically bullied and upset by Maisie.'

Another staff member, known as Ms 1, told the panel Gabriel-Allison became angry when she talked to her white colleagues in the kitchen, and would drag her away from them.

Gabriel-Allison was heard shouting: 'How many times, don't talk to these white people.'

Ms 1 said this took place every shift that they worked together.

Dcaccia also refused to allow a resident into certain rooms and areas without clinical justification, including the disabled toilet.



Another patient who was refused a drink by Dcaccia tried to boil the kettle herself.

But Dcaccia snatched the mug out of her hands and said she wasn't allowed one.

The panel found that Gabriel-Allison had engaged in an inappropriate or intimidating manner with service users and colleagues and that she had used offensive language.

Dcaccia also refused a patient access to his bedroom and garden without clinical reason and had been intimidating towards him.

It was also found she had failed to demonstrate appropriate leadership for a deputy ward manager.

The panel found both registrants had caused actual harm to patients.

Striking Dcaccia off the medical register, NMC panel chairman Stephen Barker said: 'The service users at the unit were particularly vulnerable.

'Ms Dccacia was the Deputy Unit Manager and had a responsibility to ensure a therapeutic environment for service users and a conducive working environment for the staff she managed.

'She abused that trust by behaving in such a way as to cause harm to particularly vulnerable service users for which she has shown no remorse nor has she attempted remediation.

'Ms Dcaccia's bullying of staff and intimidating manner towards service users was indicative of a particularly serious deep seated attitudinal problem.

'A striking off order is the only order which would satisfy the public interest.'

Banning Gabriel-Allison from the profession, Mr Barker said: 'She was regularly unkind to service users and demonstrated a routine and casual lack of compassion towards them in what was effectively their home at that time and where they were entitled to feel safe and secure.

'The service users were mental health patients and were highly vulnerable people.

'They should have been assisted in preparing for independent living and benefiting from a therapeutic environment.

'Instead, Ms Gabriel-Allison made them feel upset and frightened; her comments and behaviour towards individual service users having such an impact that Service User A stopped eating and Service Users D and E used to ask if she was on shift and "shake" with fear if told that she was on duty.'

Gabriel-Allison, and Dccacia, both of whom were not present at the hearing in central London, were given 28 days to appeal the panel's decision.