The number of fitness-to-practise inquiries being held by An Bord Altranais, the nursing board, into the conduct of registered nurses is rising year-on-year, the latest figures show.
A total of 18 fitness-to-practise inquiries were held by the nursing board in 2005, up from 16 in 2004 and four in 2003.
According to the board's latest annual report, which has just been published, some 15 nurses were found guilty of professional misconduct in 2005.
In six cases, the board decided that the nurses concerned should be struck off the nurses' register. In the other cases, sanctions were imposed. These included suspension from the register for a certain period, admonishment, censure and having conditions attached to the retention of a nurse's name on the register.
The number of nurses found guilty of professional misconduct in 2005 was two more than in 2004, when 13 were found guilty. In 2003, two nurses were found guilty of professional misconduct.
The latest report states that the allegations made against nurses in 2005, which led to the fitness-to-practise inquiries, included claims of medication management errors; theft of drugs and forging of prescriptions; forging of employment references; inappropriate behaviour towards patients, including rudeness and disrespect; physical and verbal abuse of patients; indecent assault; attending work in an unfit state; inappropriate use of the internet in the work environment; falsification of patient records; and alleged unfitness to practise due to mental illness.
Anne Carrigy, the president of An Bord Altranais, said in the report that the board's fitness-to-practise committee had to administer "an ever-increasing number of applications for inquiry into the fitness-to-practise of nurses and midwives".
The board publishes the names of only some of the nurses found guilty of professional misconduct. It says that it publishes the names of those found guilty, "unless there are particular concerns about, or restriction to, publication". In cases where it has published the names of those found guilty, the nursing board does not state the allegation which was proven against the nurse or where the nurse worked when the complaint was made against him/her.
Overall, the number found guilty of professional misconduct is a fraction of the number of nurses on the nurses' register. The report said there were 62,639 "active" names on the nurses' register at the end of 2005.