Blundering nurse did not have 'necessary knowledge of English'

An inquiry found Marielous Bulaong put patients at risk of a “highly contagious” infection, while working in a stroke unit at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus for more than a year.

Many of her blunders involved basic nursing skills and she was said to be “unsafe” working without supervision.

In one of the most serious incidents, she put patients at risk of infection by entering the room of a “highly contagious” patient without wearing protective clothing.

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She also failed to take the appropriate precautions to ensure a medication trolley was not contaminated and was observed failing to to wash her hands on a number of occasions before she treated patients.

Other blunders including inserting a drip upside down and she also failed to keep patients records updated.

The incidents happened while Mrs Bulaong was working in the Langlands unit, between May 2015 and March 2016.

An inquiry by the Nursing and Midwifery Council found that there had been long standing concerns about the nurse’s command of English and she had “failed to remediate these concerns.”

The panel said her poor communication skills were “particularly concerning” because she was working in a stroke unit, where the ability to communicate with patients is paramount.

“By reason of both Mrs Bulaong’s lack of competency and misconduct, she has put patients at unwarranted risk of harm.

“The panel considered that the lack of competency identified in this case are wide ranging and relate to basic fundamental nursing skills.

“There would be a risk to patient safety if Mrs Bulaong would be allowed to practise with conditions.”

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