A clinical nurse manager who failed to call an ambulance for a dementia patient who drank cleaning fluid has been suspended from the nurse’s register for nine months by the High Court.
Ann Marie Ryan, a registered psychiatric nurse with an address at Milford, Co Donegal, is to remain suspended until she has successfully completed three courses including dealing with emergencies, and ethics and leadership in nursing.
High Court president Judge David Barniville, confirming the decision of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland following an inquiry by its fitness-to-practise committee, said there was no reason why it should not be confirmed.
The judge noted that Ryan, in an email to solicitors for the board in November last year, indicated she was not seeking to re-register as a nurse in 2026, and claimed the facts were incorrect.
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The inquiry by the fitness-to-practise committee found that two allegations were proven against Ryan, and it amounted to poor professional performance and noncompliance with a code of professional conduct.
They related to an incident at a psychiatric unit in the east of the country where, at the time in March 2021, Ryan was a clinical nurse manager and the nurse in charge.
The allegations included that after being notified by a staff nurse of a medical emergency in relation to the patient who had ingested a cleaning fluid, Ryan failed to act in a timely manner and did not call an ambulance, and instructed nursing staff who were monitoring the patient not to call an ambulance.
The second allegation which was found to be proven was that Ryan had instructed a staff nurse to continue giving the patient water and observe her despite the fact that the staff nurse had advised that the patient needed to be taken to hospital.
The inquiry was held over three days in February last year. Evidence was heard that a doctor who happened to be on site at the unit was asked by Ryan to attend the woman and he advised an ambulance be called.
A nurse gave evidence that an ambulance was called but the patient died days later in hospital.
Ryan, who is now a director of education, training and professional development at a large psychiatric hospital in Dubai, chose not to attend the inquiry.
