Former Shropshire ward manager found to have committed misconduct gets interim punishment
A former Shropshire ward manager has been temporarily banned from clinical roles after an allegation of misconduct was upheld.
Debbie Povall was previously in charge of the Powys ward at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt (RJAH) Orthopaedic Hospital in Gobowen, near Oswestry.
Between 2018 and 2019, concerns were raised regarding Mrs Povall’s conduct towards both patients and staff.
A fitness to practise panel reached its decision last week having deliberated over several charges that she faced.
Mrs Povall had already admitted failing to preserve patient safety by working excessive hours, and sending a text message about a staff member, referred to as “Colleague C”, saying “I had to stop myself from [sic] as I would rather gouge her eyeballs out and shove them down her throat”.
However, she denied all other allegations.
They included telling Colleague C “you could have apologised” after the latter arrived late, and being aggressive in her tone to her when the colleague tried to step in to help with an INR machine that checks the thinness of blood.
The panel, however, found those charges proven. They didn’t, however, find that Ms Povall’s actions caused Colleague C to bring a grievance and resign.
The other charges found to be proven were that Ms Povall:
Failed to demonstrate appropriate standards of leadership in that she failed to ensure staffing levels were appropriate
Declined to assist a colleague with a patient’s bypassed catheter and requested for him to continue with observations instead
Regarding a patient who had not passed urine, told a colleague, ‘to leave the patient and she will wee’ rather than request a bladder scan
Said “you need to get him [a patient] home tomorrow”, or words to that effect knowing that the patient had low haemoglobin and required a blood transfusion.
Mrs Povall said she accepted the panel’s findings, admitting that she behaved inappropriately.
The panel has concluded that all of the proven facts amounts to misconduct, apart from Mrs Povall telling Colleague C “you could have apologised” when she arrived late.
The chair, Richard Weydert, told Mrs Povall that her fitness to practise remains impaired. However, he said this is limited specifically to charges that are clinical matters.
Mr Weydert added that Mrs Povall “is essentially remediated” regarding the concerns raised in her conduct towards Colleague C, as well as working exceesive hours and failing to ensure staffing levels were adequate.
“But there is an outstanding impairment going forward because we’ve found you’ve not fully remediated on the clinical charges as yet,” said Mr Weydert.
A 12-month interim order has therefore been imposed. Some of the conditions are general in relation to Mrs Povall’s current role as as a healthcare assessor for the Department for Work and Pensions, while others specifically apply to any clinical roles she may undertake.
A date of April 7 has been set for the panel to consider what sanctions Mrs Povall could face. The interim order has been imposed for 12 months, said Mr Weydert, to cover the unlikely event that the hearing will be part-heard again.
