Hammersmith nurse struck off for multiple lapses and misconduct

A nurse has been struck from the industry register after a litany of issues were raised about her – including failing to administer medication when instructed.

The decision to strike Xandra Ann De Leon Samson from the register alongside an interim suspension order was made at a Nursing and Midwifery Committee (NMC) hearing earlier this month.

The case had been running since October 2022, when the first hearing was held, and related to a series of alleged misdemeanours at Hammersmith and then Ealing hospitals between June 2017 and early 2019.

Ms Samson, had been a registered nurse since 2014. In February 2016, she began working at the Heart Assessment Centre (HAC) in Hammersmith Hospital, which is run by Imperial College Healthcare Trust.

She left in 2018, and joined the Acute Medical Unit at Ealing Hospital in October of that year. She was the subject of a medical suspension in April 2019.

A referral was made to the NMC by both Imperial and London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs Ealing Hospital, relating to Ms Samson’s conduct.

It included allegations ranging from failing to administer medication and telling a patient they would be prescribed blood thinner medication without having consulted a doctor.

A report from the NMC states: “The panel agreed that it was part of your role as a nurse to explain to patients about any medication they were receiving, but that this should only be done once medication had been prescribed.”

In another case in August 2017, Ms Samson failed to assist in providing emergency care. A witness wrote in their statement one of the nurses at Hammersmith Hospital told them the Registrant, Ms Samson, ‘disappeared whenever primaries were brought in’.

More than 70 instances of alleged misconduct were recorded, with further instances including refusing to give prescribed medication to a patient with a blood clot.

Not all of the charges were found to be proven, but the three-person panel concluded the majority were, and at a previous hearing found Ms Samson’s actions amounted to misconduct and that her fitness to practise was ‘impaired’.

At the final hearing in early September, for which Ms Samson was absent, the panel determined a striking-off order was necessary.

The report reads: “Having regard to the effect of your misconduct in bringing the profession into disrepute by adversely affecting the public’s view of how a registered nurse should conduct themself, the panel has concluded that nothing short of a striking-off order would be sufficient in this case.”

Due to the striking-off order not being able to take effect until after the 28-day appeal period, an interim suspension order was also imposed ‘for the protection of the public’.

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust confirmed Ms Samson has not worked at the Trust since 2018, while a spokesman for London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust said she hadn’t worked with them since 2019.

Pictured top: Hammersmith Hospital in Du Cane Road (Picture: Google Street View)