Patients put at risk by culture of staff secrets A NURSE at the centre of an inquiry into the deaths of two girls and two elderly women in a hospital intensive care unit was arrested at home yesterday. Kathleen Anne Atkinson, 47, was suspended a year ago from her ‡23,000-a-year post and dismissed two months later for alleged "gross misconduct". Police were asked to investigate the deaths at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne, in March last year by Leonard Coyle, the city's coroner. The cases under investigation involve Patricia Dryden, 15, Claire Marsh, 12, Mary Burdon, 69, and an unnamed woman aged 77. Police are understood to be investigating claims that life-supporting drugs were withheld at the unit between 1991 and 1995. Mrs Atkinson was nurse in charge. Mrs Atkinson, of Stadium Villas, Wallsend, North Tyneside, said two months ago that she planned to sue for unfair dismissal. "I have done nothing wrong," she said. "The last 12 months have been a living nightmare and I want to clear my name. I know what people think, but they have got the wrong idea. I cannot go to an industrial tribunal until the police have done their bit." Hospital staff and relatives of the four who died have been interviewed by police. Christine Dryden, whose daughter, Patricia, died five days after an explosion in October 1995 in which a youth was burned and two others injured when a butane gas canister exploded, said the first she knew of allegations about the hospital was when police arrived at her home. Mrs Dryden, of Blyth, Northumberland, said: "The police said they were investigating and were notifying the relatives of the people involved. The Friday it happened she was taken to Wansbeck but was transferred to the RVI because she needed special treatment that they could give. We never had any doubt in our minds she was going to pull through. I had a room at the hospital and slept there. I was with her, along with my family, all the time I was awake. There were so many staff coming and going, doctors and nurses were moving round all the time. They told us that she was getting the best care possible and it seemed to us she was." A Northumbria police spokesman confirmed that Mrs Atkinson had been arrested and questioned.
=========================================
Friday, 04 April 2003 11:06 The Daily Telegraph · www.telegraph.co.uk NURSE IN DEATHS CASE LOSES JOB PLEA An intensive care nurse who was accused of hastening the deaths of patients has lost a claim for unfair dismissal. Kathleen Atkinson, 52, who has always denied the allegations, was dismissed from the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne, after claims she withdrew treatment from dying patients and in one case gave a pensioner an extra dose of morphine. She accused the Newcastle NHS Hospitals Trust, of being "selective" in its investigation into her care of patients. She told an employment tribunal in the city this week she wanted to clear her name. Two charges of attempted murder and one of incitement to murder were withdrawn after she had spent three months in custody. Dr Steven Cook, clinical director of support services who conducted the original disciplinary inquiry, told the hearing: "I was, and remain, convinced that the allegations were true and Mrs Atkinson had unilaterally hastened the deaths of patients". Tudor Garnon, the tribunal chairman, said there was evidence that rules about nurses withdrawing or prescribing drugs had been broken.