A Blackburn nurse had been handed a 12-month conditions of practice order after she altered a patient’s records to cover her own failings, just two days before the patient died.

Julie Isherwood was employed as a registered district nurse by the Lancashire Care Foundation Trust and became the dedicated nurse for a patient in December 2015.

At the time she was treating the patient at home for a wound on his hand, but he was later admitted to Royal Blackburn Hospital on February 29, 2016, with a pressure sore in his sacral area, something Ms Isherwood had been made aware of but hadn’t actioned.

The patient died four days later on March 4 as a result of septicaemia.

It was alleged Ms Isherwood was made aware of the pressure sore but had failed to take appropriate steps, at least 21 times, to ensure the patient received the treatment required, and on March 2, realising her mistakes, was said to have taken the patient’s records home to alter them, in an attempt to cover her own back.

A Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) misconduct hearing in October was told following a safeguarding alert a police investigation was launched, and Ms Isherwood was suspended in June 2016.

The suspension was lifted in October 2016 and she returned to work in a non-patient facing capacity.

In a report from the NMC hearing, in which Ms Isherwood’s fitness to practise was found to be impaired, it was noted four charges against her were proven following her admissions.

These included amending the patient’s records, failing to check the patient’s pressure sore, and dishonesty in knowingly trying to conceal a failure to examine the suspected pressure sore and/or creating a misleading impression of care given.

A NMC representative said following the patient’s death “it could not be shown from the coroner’s report that your actions contributed to the death of [Patient], however, at the time you amended [Patient]’s records, you were aware he had been admitted to hospital with a grade four pressure sore.”

As a result, the NMC panel found Ms Isherwood’s failings contributed to the patient experiencing physical harm, and her dishonesty in amending his records gave a misleading impression of the standard of care provided to him, so much so her “misconduct had brought the nursing profession’s reputation into disrepute”.

When asked about her state of mind at the time she altered the records, Ms Isherwood said she was, “shocked, flustered, panicking and not thinking right”.

A report from the NMC hearing went on: “You were flustered and shocked no one had informed the district nursing team about the pressure sore, and you felt sad for [Patient].

“When you realised there had 21 been omissions in your care, you said you were ashamed, embarrassed, disgusted and shocked, as nothing like that had happened before.

“You told the panel that after you amended the front sheet, you questioned why you did it, and you realised on the following day you had acted “wrongly”.

“You accepted it was wrong of you to amend the notes. You maintained you were 'not intentionally dishonest'.”

It was heard Ms Isherwood has since undergone further training and has been working in a different department which has “embedded her understanding of the importance of maintaining accurate records”.

She told the NMC panel she “apologised for everything and said no previous concerns had been raised about her practice”.

She was handed a 12-month conditions of practice order.