Scottish care home manager struck off over Covid jab incident
Ms Donnelly, a registered adult nurse who worked for Sanctuary Care at Millport Care Centre, faced misconduct charges over the handling of a Covid vaccination for a 'service user' in February 2021.
The woman was described in a report as having a learning disability and bipolar affective disorder and living under welfare guardianship, with a care plan allowing brief, trained restraint only for essential interventions such as feeding and personal care.
The NMC panel heard that an NHS nurse attended the home to administer Covid vaccines to residents and staff, and that there had already been two failed attempts to vaccinate the woman in the dining room earlier in the day.
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Later, in the resident’s bedroom, four staff – including Ms Donnelly – were present when the vaccine was administered while the woman was on the floor.
Evidence from colleagues, accepted by the panel, was that the woman was on the floor of her bedroom, shouting, screaming and struggling as three staff, including Ms Donnelly at her head and shoulders, held her down while the injection was given.
A psychiatric nurse who entered the room during the incident described the scene as “horrific” and said the level of restraint was “deeply inappropriate”.
The panel found that Ms Donnelly restrained the resident’s head, and supervised and directed further restraint by two support workers, concluding that the woman was being physically held for the purpose of receiving the vaccine.
Although Ms Donnelly told the hearing she believed she was merely holding the resident’s hand for comfort and did not consider it restraint, the panel preferred the consistent accounts of other staff.
The panel also found the restraint was not in line with the resident’s care plan.
The panel heard that a colleague initially said she needed bare skin to administer the jab, but that Ms Donnelly told her to “just administer it through the leggings” after asking staff if they had “a good grip” on the struggling resident.
Witness evidence stated that the Covid vaccine was then injected into the woman’s thigh through her leggings while she remained restrained on the floor.
Afterwards, a colleague allegedly asked Ms Donnelly “please don’t tell anyone I’ve administered the vaccine in this way”, and Ms Donnelly replied “of course I won’t”.
The panel found that Ms Donnelly then failed to report that the vaccine had been administered through clothing, and ruled that this omission was dishonest, given her professional duty to record and report what had happened.
The final report stated: "The panel found that you caused emotional harm to [the woman], and you placed her at risk of physical harm.
"The panel also found that you placed junior colleagues at risk of physical harm, and did cause them actual emotional harm in that you were instrumental in directing an inappropriate restraint to take place."
The panel’s assessment of the evidence was that this had been a chaotic, distressing and “horrific” incident that led to whistleblowing.
A report added: "The panel was of the view that your [Donnelly] sustained deceit in your accounts of the incident in previous sittings of the hearing, including repeated attempts to implicate and blame others, were deliberate attempts to deflect from the objective facts and amounted to genuine acts of manufactured dishonesty.
"The panel concluded that these were not failed attempts to tell the story in a better light, but were deliberate lies on your part to cast the incident in an entirely different light to what had been the ‘horrific’ reality."
The panel concluded that the proved charges – unnecessary and non‑care‑planned restraint, directing others to restrain, and dishonest failure to report improper vaccination – amounted to serious misconduct.
Having found Ms Donnelly’s fitness to practise impaired, the panel decided that nothing short of removal from the register would adequately protect the public and maintain confidence in the profession.
It imposed a striking-off order and an interim suspension order for 18 months while any appeal is considered.
The events took place at Millport Care Centre, which cares for adults with learning disabilities and mental health conditions who are unable to live without support, and where Ms Donnelly had worked since 2001.
