A nurse has been struck off for changing hospital records to cover up that she failed to call a doctor for a critically-ill stroke patient until after she was dead.

Nayyar Robinson failed to take "any of the steps which she should have taken" when the elderly woman's condition deteriorated, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard.

She also wrote she had made six attempts to call the dying woman's family, when in fact she only phoned after her death.

Robinson, a staff nurse at Medway Maritime Hospital, changed her notes to claim she had tried to call for a doctor at 11.30am and 12noon, before the woman's death at 12.42pm.

The nurse had also measured the patient's blood oxygen levels incorrectly by using a probe on her ear that was designed to be attached to a finger.

At the time, healthcare workers had asked Robinson for help because the stroke victim, identified only as Patient A, had dangerously low oxygen readings.

These were later changed in her records to look less serious.

Stephen Barker, the panel chairman, said: "She (Robinson) was immediately aware that her conduct was likely to be criticised, and, as a result, she embarked upon a deliberate and dishonest attempt to make fictitious entries in the patient's notes.

The order to strike Robinson's name from the register was a personal tragedy for the nurse, who has 25 years experience, but it was needed to protect the public.

Clare Horman, a senior staff nurse at the hospital, said Patient A's daughter and son-in-law were denied the chance to be there in her final hours.

Robinson admitted making changes to medical records, using a finger probe on her ear and failing to inform doctors and her family of her deteriorating condition.

Her conduct was found to be dishonest by the panel.