A nurse at Dover Immigration Removal Centre has been placed under review for 18 months after administering the wrong amount of medicine to patients.

Ruth Downie worked at the centre from February 2006 until May 2014 when she was dismissed following a disciplinary hearing.

At a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) hearing held on July 27-29, a Conduct and Competence Committee proved each charge against her.

Miss Downie was not present for the hearing despite being contacted to attend.

On March 26, 2014, she completed a stock check of Buprenorphine but failed to ensure that the “witnessed by” box had been ticked for 2mg and 8mg.

On April 1, 2014 she gave an incorrect dose of 2mg when 8mg of Buprenorphine had been prescribed to Patient A.

On April 10, she did not ask a colleague to check a patients methadone prescription before giving it to them.

This resulted in her administering an incorrect dose of 52mls of methadone to Patient B who had been prescribed 15ml.

It is then reported that she said: “Oh, he’s on 15ml” in the presence of the patient, who was then taken to A&E for treatment.

Paul Andrews, regulatory legal team at the NMC, said he believes Miss Downie’s actions put two patients at risk. Patient B was admitted to A&E, though he suffered no long-term harm.

Mr Andrews also said this was a “clear departure from the professional standards expected of a registered nurse and they amounted to misconduct.”

He also added that as Miss Downie appeared to have little insight into the mistake and little remediation so that there was a risk of repetition which called for a finding of impairment.

“It is a clear departure from the professional standards expected of a registered nurse and they amounted to misconduct.” - Mr Andrews

The panel placed a conditions of practice order for a period of 18 months and summarised that her “fitness to practise is currently impaired by reason of her misconduct.”

This means she must not carry out medicine administration unless directly supervised by an experienced registered nurse until she has completed a training programme.

During this period she will also be expected to create a personal development plan and submit this to the NMC and must also inform all employers or education trainers of the conditions.

The panel did not believe a suspension order would be right considering that Miss Downie had an otherwise “unblemished” career.

During the 18-month period Miss Downie does have an opportunity to appeal.