Nurse bathes 89-year-old in bleach at eastern Sydney aged care home

A NURSE at an aged care service has been reprimanded after a patient was admitted to hospital with burns from being washed with bleach.

The patient had been a resident of Castellorizian Aged Care Service at Kensington since 2006.

THE head nurse at a Kensington aged care facility has been formally reprimanded for burning an 89-year-old after washing her in bleach.

Former Castellorizian Aged Care Services care manager Helena Bennett was disciplined by the Health Care Complaints Commission for conduct which resulted in burns to the patient over five days in July 2014.

The NSW Nursing and Midwifery Professional Standards Committee has now upheld the decision by the HCCC.

In disciplining Ms Bennett, the committee imposed restrictions but did not revoke her registration.

When she was treated for a staph infection using bleach, the elderly patient had limited capacity to communicate and suffered from a number of conditions, including dementia.

In a letter tendered to the HCCC, dermatologist Dr Lance Bear said he prescribed a bleach solution “emphasis(ing) that the correct dilution was half cup of unscented household bleach to half a bath tub of lake warm water.”

The concentration of bleach to water — 125mls to 80 litres — was allegedly dictated verbally to two nurses at the care home on July 10.

However both nurses allege instructions were to give the patient a bath of 50/50 bleach and water.

They allegedly told Dr Bear “there was no bath at Castellorizian, and that (the patient) would be sitting in a bath chair wrapped in bleach soaked towels.”

At the time the patient’s chronic skin condition had given her open wounds and scabs across her torso.

When Ms Bennett administered the first treatment on July 11, she bathed the patient in a 1:1 solution using household bleach she had personally bought from Coles. “Dry towels were placed in the bucket, wrung out, and wrapped around the patient’s body. Bleach solutions were then poured over the towels ever 5 minutes for 30 minutes,” the decision read.

The nursed bathed the patient in a 1:1 solution using household bleach she had bought from Coles.

Ms Bennett then delegated the patient’s progress notes to another nurse with instructions for weekend staff.

Upon returning to work on Monday, Ms Bennett saw the burns on the patient’s skin and stopped the bleach treatment.

The following day another nurse found the patient’s skin red and inflamed, “with one arm oozing serous fluid and emitting an odour,” the HCCC reported. Paramedics took the patient to SVH Emergency Department in a stable condition and she was then transferred to Concord hospital’s burns unit.

CASE Executive Manager Gaye Perrins stood the care manager down and filed a complaint.

Ms Bennett’s legal adviser Ms Kava said she admitted to the particulars of the complaint and she “has expressed remorse”.

On October 11 the committee found Ms Bennett “guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct.”

“We were told that RN Bennett accepted that she administered a bleach treatment ... without having written instructions.

“Neither the concentration of bleach to water, nor the temperature of the water had been recorded.

It said it was also “satisfied” Ms Bennett failed to stop the treatment immediately, despite the bleach solution smelling strongly, had burned the skin of an assistant nurse, and burned her own clothes.

In order to continue practising she must undertake an Australian College of Nursing course Team Dynamics and Clinical Leadership, among other restrictions.

Ms Bennett did not provide a statement, and did not appear at the hearing.

Originally published as Nurse bathes 89-year-old in bleach at eastern Sydney aged care home