Shropshire school nurse denies giving ibuprofen to student who was allergic
A nurse at a Shropshire boarding school is accused of giving a student ibuprofen despite him being allergic to it.
It is alleged that Suzie Perry administered the student with Sudafed Sinus that contained ibuprofen while at Concord College, a boarding school that is in the grounds of Acton Burnell Castle south of Shrewsbury.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) alleges that, on January 17, 2020, the student – referred to as Patient A – told Mrs Perry that he had some nasal congestion and a headache.
“Patient A had asthma and is allergic to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which would include ibuprofen,” said James Edenborough, representing the NMC at a fitness to practise substantive hearing.
“Mrs Perry administered Sudafed with ibuprofen, which was not clinically appropriate because of the allergy.”
Opening the case on Monday (January 5), Mr Edenborough said that paramedics were called. However, he did not mention whether the patient became ill or was taken to hospital.
Mrs Perry has denied all the charges she faces.
It is alleged that at 12.09pm on January 17, 2020, she recorded giving Patient A Sudafed Sinus with ibuprofen, which was in a red box. But at 1.34pm on the same day, she recorded on the patient’s tracker/medical notes that she gave him a blue box because he is asthmatic.
Therefore, the NMC claims that Mrs Perry’s actions were dishonest in that she knew she had given the patient the red box, and sought to mislead others to believe it was a blue box.
Four days later an investigatory meeing was held where, according to the NMC, Mrs Perry stated she had checked through the medical notes and Patient A had not had the blue Sudafed previously, when she knew this was not correct. Therefore, Mrs Perry is accused of being dishonest in that she knew he had previously been administered the blue box and sought to conceal that she had given him the red one.
“The NMC say that when Mrs P did the corrected note, her purpose was to knowingly mislead by saying ‘I actually gave the blue, not the red’,” said Mr Edenborough.
“Mrs Perry stated that Patient A had never taken blue Sudafed before, the NMC say that was not right. At an investigatory meeting, she essentially made the same point in that she checked through the medical notes on ‘patient tracker’ and that Patient A had not had the blue Sudafed previously.”
Because of her alleged actions, the NMC say that Mrs Perry’s fitness to practise is impaired by reason of her misconduct.
The hearing is scheduled to run until January 19, and the student is due to give evidence.
