A nurse has appeared in court accused of drugging patients on an NHS stroke unit with sedatives to “keep them quiet” and make her shifts easier.
Catherine Hudson, 54, is on trial alongside colleague Charlotte Wilmot, 48, over the alleged ill-treatment of patients while they were employed on the unit at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.
At the time of the alleged crimes, Hudson was working as an experienced band 5 registered nurse, and Wilmot was a band 4 assistant practitioner.
The events were brought to the attention of the authorities in November 2018 by a whistleblowing student nurse.
Opening the trial on Wednesday at Preston Crown Court, prosecutor Peter Wright KC said patients were “deliberately doped up with [the sedative] Zopiclone”, which can be life-threatening if given inappropriately.
He said: “Some patients on the unit, we say, were deliberately doped up with Zopiclone, or other similar sedatives, by certain members of staff in order not to treat them but to keep them quiet and compliant.
“We say the defendants treated patients not with care and compassion but with contempt.
“They considered them, or some of them, to be an imposition, an irritation.”
He said they would drug patients to “make their life easier and their work less onerous or arduous”, or on occasion would do so “simply out of spite” if a patient or patients’ family had irritated them.
Mr Wright went on: “The risks to the patients were obvious, but we say they didn’t care.
“They thought it was amusing. It was something which they would brag about or share as a joke on social media and with other members of staff who shared their particular brand of humour.”
The investigation into the case included an examination of the defendants’ electronic devices.
A message exchange between Hudson and Wilmot about an elderly male patient was read to the court.
Hudson wrote: “I’m going to kill bed 5 xxx.”
Wilmot replied: “Pmsl (pissing myself laughing) well tonight sedate him to high heaven lol xxx.”
Hudson said: “Already in my head to give him double !!”
“We say the defendants treated patients not with care and compassion but with contempt”
Peter Wright
Another set of messages between the friends showed an “antipathy” towards an elderly female patient and her daughter, said the prosecutor.
Hudson posted: “R u actually kidding me?? Surely there’s no one worse than her!! Which bay?? I’m in pink tonight , no dick heads had better b in there or they r being sedated (laughing emojis)!! Xxx”.
Wilmot replied: “Yeah very f***ing annoying. Give her the best sleep she ever had pmsl (laughing emojis) xxx”.
Hudson said “Permanently (laughing emojis) xxx”.
The court also heard that Hudson had bragged about sedating another patient to a healthcare assistant, writing: “I sedated on(e) of them to within an inch of her life lol. Bet she’s flat for a week haha xxx.”
On the following day she enquired about the same patient to Wilmot.
Hudson wrote: “What’s bed 29 been doing today pmsfl. Not a f***ing lot I bet!! Seeing as I sedated her on sat and sun lol lol xxx.”
Wilmot replied: “Yeahhhh I knew it, everything you gave her has started working today!!!! made for a nice day though, it ain’t been bad lol. Xxx.”
Hudson responded: “She was driving me mad , so it was pxd (prescribed) and had to b done lol . She needed the rest xxx.”
To another colleague, Hudson wrote: “What a lovely day I have had in blue bay today. Sedated all the troublemakers lol xxx.”
Mr Wright said Hudson was also involved in depriving patients of prescribed laxatives, as she “inelegantly” remarked in one message: “No shitting on my shift.”
He said the defendant was covertly recorded in her home as part of the investigation that followed.
Mr Wright said: “In one conversation she said this – which you may think sums up the entirety of this case – ‘It’s almost like a hidden inside rule that we all have. That we stick together whatever we do.
“‘It’s just taken to the grave. Take it to the grave – we say that all the time and this stupid f***ing student has spoiled this’.”
Hudson, of Coriander Close, Blackpool, denies ill-treating four patients and stealing Mebeverine, a medicine, intended for an end-of-life care patient.
Wilmot, of Bowland Crescent, Blackpool, denies encouraging Hudson to sedate one of those patients.
Both defendants have also pleaded not guilty to conspiring to ill-treat another patient.
The alleged ill-treatment offences are said to have taken place between February 2017 and November 2018.
The trial continues.