Care home manager struck off for 'deplorable' failings which put residents at risk of harm

A care home manager has been struck off following allegations that he swore at staff, failed to properly care for residents and lied to gain employment.

Marcus James Dresh, who worked at the Holy Rosary Care Home, went before the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Fitness to Practise Committee on May 28.

The care home manager, who was accused of a raft of misconduct issues, was struck off by the Renfrewshire panel following a lengthy investigation.

Dresh was previously employed as a manager of Carnbroe Care Centre in Coatbridge. He was given a two-year caution in 2017 after failing to “ensure adequate systems were in place and audits conducted” in relation to the storage, stocking and administration of medication, and the completion of Medicine Administration Record (MAR) charts between May and December 2014.

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However, the ex-manager is known to then have applied to work at the care home in a clinical Lead role on June 10, 2019.

Dresh did not tell the care home about his past employment with Carnbroe, which the panel found he "deliberately withheld information which he knew was prejudicial to securing employment with the home".

The panel then heard that during his employment he allowed a resident to wander the grounds "unaccompanied and unnoticed", between November 21 and 24, 2019. It also found that he had failed to implement a risk management strategy by March 31, 2020, which meant another staff member had to complete it.

This information came to light following a Care Inspectorate Report dated August 2020. A witness told the panel the family had then removed the resident from the care of the home following the incident.

They said: "‘The resident was found in the grounds and their family subsequently removed the resident from the home and complaints to the Care Inspectorate. This was ongoing in August when I arrived at the home and so I had to complete the end of that complaint, which the nurse should have done but did not."

On December 3, it was also found that following a meeting with a concerned resident's family, he failed to escalate concerns, follow up the complaint and "did not implement an adequate system to ensure that care plans were up to date and followed". In the same month, it was also found that he "failed to intervene when Resident F’s family member was shouting and swearing at Colleague C".

On April 6, 2020, the panel found that Dresh did not give resident A, who was on end-of-life care, morphine which was prescribed four times a day, "despite the resident crying out in pain".

He also did not change resident C's ulcer bandages, did not order A their morphine, and failed to "ensure there was an adequate system in place for the provision of breakthrough pain relief for residents".

Dresh was found not to have unreasonably denied a test of Resident B’s blood sugar level before instructing Colleague A to give Resident B breakfast on the grounds he exercised his professional judgement. However, it was found that he made an unprofessional remark in response to Colleague A.

He told them: 'I throw the diabetic textbook out the window, I just do what I want’.

The witness added: "I was taken aback by that as I thought it was not really up to the Nurse how to deal with a diabetic resident."

Dresh, who was made manager of the home, was also found to not have complied with requirements set out by the Social Care Partnership to notify them on complaints against the home or incidents involving the wellbeing or safety of residents.

Between April and June 2020, he was found to have ‘failed to ensure there were adequate infection prevention control procedures in place to combat the spread of Covid-19 infection'. The report states that there were no enhanced cleaning, infection control audits or risk assessments, testing on staff's infection control practises or clear guidance to staff on mask-wearing.

The care home manager was also found to have swore at staff. In one incident, he said, "I’m f****** sick of this", when told that a colleague was unwell.

Among the other charges includes failure to maintain and follow care plans for residents.

Concluding the case, the NMC said: "The panel found that residents were put at risk of harm as a result of Mr Dresh’s failings. By his misconduct, he was in breach of the fundamental tenets of the nursing profession and therefore brought its reputation into disrepute.

"The panel was therefore satisfied that confidence in the nursing profession would be undermined if its regulator did not find charges relating to dishonesty extremely serious. Regarding insight, the panel found that Mr Dresh has demonstrated a limited understanding of how his actions put residents at a risk of harm, why what he did was wrong and how this impacted negatively on the reputation of the nursing profession.

"The panel further concluded that members of the public would find Mr Dresh’s failings deplorable and that public confidence in the profession would be undermined if a finding of current impairment were not made. The panel therefore finds Mr Dresh’s fitness to practise currently impaired on public interest grounds."

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