Nurse struck off after being caught stealing from care home residents
By Joe Coughlan, Local Democracy Reporter
A care home nurse has been banned from the profession after being caught stealing items from residents.
A misconduct hearing from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) found an agency nurse was guilty of several instances of misconduct during a shift in February 2021.
Michelle Mercedes Stampp-Nix reportedly stole several items from Sundridge Court Nursing Home in Bromley.
The incident occurred on February 24, 2021 when the nurse arrived at the home for the first time to work a night shift as a member of agency staff.
The deputy manager was reportedly called to the home during the morning at the end of the shift to respond to staff’s concerns about Mrs Stampp-Nix’s behaviour. Staff claimed she was acting ‘very strange’ and looked like she was ‘stealing things’.
The deputy manager said: “While we went to check her car boot, there were many bags and items. I first noticed in one of her bags a Chanel No.5 perfume which I knew belonged to one of our residents.
“I then asked her to bring everything out of the car including the bags. While I checked the bags, I found more items from our residents (with labels on them), like clothing, toiletries, and bank cards.
“I turned away from (Mrs Stampp-Nix) and when I turned back around she was putting our care home iPad out of her bag and placing it back on the side in the nurse’s station.”
The staff member called the police and their manager then made a referral on the incident to the NMC the next month.
The panel described several of her actions as ‘dishonest’ and the legal assessor cited a risk of repetition of the misconduct that had been carried out.
They decided to strike the nurse off from the NMC register, with an interim suspension order of 18 months to cover the appeal period.
Sundridge Court Nursing Home is run by Aria Healthcare Group and was rated ‘Good’ in all areas by the Care Quality Commission from its latest inspection in July 2023.
A spokeswoman from the home said the incident took place while the service was under previous ownership.
They said they welcomed the NMC’s decision and were pleased to see that Mrs Stampp-Nix has been held professionally accountable for her actions.
Pictured top: The incident occurred while the nurse was doing a shift at Sundridge Court Nursing Home in Bromley (Picture: Google Street View)