A NURSE who punched a dementia patient to the back of the head at a care home without warning has been struck off.

Waqar Ahmed claimed the resident at Buckshaw Retirement Village was trying to stand up in his wheelchair and he put out his arms to ‘stabilise’ him, a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) hearing was told.

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But a misconduct panel accepted the evidence of a colleague at the Oakbridge Drive home, who said she had seen Ahmed strike the man on the back of the head with a clenched fist.

An investigation by the NMC also discovered the nurse had failed to declare a criminal conviction for assault when he was taken on by the Carepath nursing agency around two months before.

Kristina Reed, for the regulator, said Ahmed had been working a day shift at The Lodge, at the retirement village, on January 27, 2015, when the incident occurred.

A support worker was returning from a break when she saw, through a lounge window, Ahmed hit a dementia sufferer to the back of his head, the panel heard.

Cross-examined during the case, the support worker accepted the patient would often become agitated and would shout out 'get me out of here', due to his dementia.

Ahmed claimed at the hearing the resident was 'spitting at and attempting to hit out' at other people in the room.

But the panel noted this was not given as an explanation when the nurse was interviewed immediately after the matter was reported.

Once the misconduct panel had found the punch allegation proved, it was then asked to consider charges relating to Ahmed not declaring convictions for assault and a motoring offence, and a caution for fraud.

Ahmed insisted he was 'confused' when filling out application forms with Carepath.

But ruling he should be struck off, panel chairman Jacqueline Alexander said: “(His)actions were significant departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse, and are fundamentally incompatible with him remaining on the register.”