A care worker has avoided a jail sentence despite taking a video of a dying patient and "robbing him of his dignity".

Lacey Deans, 31, from Chatham, was working at the Sapphire Acute Frailty unit in Gillingham at the time of the incident.

She pleaded guilty to the "ill-treatment or wilful neglect" of the 80-year-old patient, who died days later in November 2019.

Maidstone Crown Court heard how between August 13 and December 13 that year, she was employed by Medway Maritime Hospital in the role of a clinical support worker in the unit.

Prosecutor Donna Longcroft said: "In this role she was responsible for providing personal therapeutic care to vulnerable patients on the ward who are elderly and living with dementia, or an element of frailty and have a medical complaint.

"Her duties included communicating with patients, encouraging mobility, providing assistance with feeding and attending to the needs of the patients."

However on December 13 the defendant's ex-partner emailed a complaint to Medway hospital referring to the defendant's treatment of patients.

She added: "Within the complaint, it was alleged that the defendant possessed a number of videos of patients on her mobile phone.

"One of the videos shows a male in a hospital bed. He is claiming a member of staff hit him.

"The defendant is heard laughing throughout the video."

She was also heard laughing on another video, saying: "He is going to make me wet myself."

The prosecutor added that in a third video a patient is pictured in a hoist with his hospital gown barely covering him.

The prosecutor told the court how Deans was arrested and admitted taking the videos, which were found on her mobile phone.

Judge Julian Smith told her that she had "robbed an extremely vulnerable man of his dignity in his final hours".

Maidstone Crown Court heard how she made three clips in which she mocked the pensioner, who was in his last hours of his life.

The court heard how she broke up with her partner who then emailed the images and videos to the hospital.

She was given a six-month jail term suspended for 18 months after the court heard how she had been warned twice about using her mobile on the ward.

The prosecutor added: "What was of concern was that there was no care or compassion shown to the patient. There was degradation of the patient, demonstrated in the repeated laughing, and further degradation in sending those videos to another."

Judge Smith said Deans would not be going to prison because of her guilty plea and the delay in being charged.

But he told her: "Those who care for the most vulnerable, the most frail, those in the closing stages of their lives, carry a huge responsibility and you not only failed to meet it but betrayed the trust and expected care you should have had for this elderly and dying gentleman.

"You are not responding to that man's needs in the way you should be, and it is troubling and distressing to watch.

"Although there was no direct, physical assault, in the filming – the mockery, the laughter, the way you generally treated him, recording yourself doing so and then sharing it – you have essentially robbed him of his dignity. The distress and insult to this person is clear and obvious."

Deans, of Constitution Road, Chatham, was ordered to pay £100 prosecution costs and £122 victim surcharge.

Now unemployed, she had been suspended by the hospital as a result of the allegations but had found work in a Covid testing centre.

Chantel Gaber, defending, told the court Deans took full responsibility for her behaviour.

"She is extremely sorry. She knows what she did was wrong and there can be no excuses," she added.

Jayne Black, chief executive of Medway NHS Foundation Trust, said: “I am deeply sorry that this happened to a patient in our care – this type of behaviour is completely unacceptable and does not reflect the values of the Trust.

“The member of staff was suspended as soon as this incident came to light and dismissed following police investigation.”