Timeslive reports that most of the nurses who appeared before the SA Nursing Council last year were disciplined for theft, while other cases were for fights‚ assaulting patients and a medication error.  

The council dealt with 25 cases between March and November last year and nine of those involved theft.  Of the nine‚ one nurse was fired and struck off the nursing registry, five were given suspended sentences, one was suspended for six months and two were suspended for three years.  In one case, a nurse assaulted a colleague and in two cases the nurses assaulted their patients.  Both the nurses accused of assaulting patients were men enrolled as auxillary nurses‚ who carried out basic nursing procedures and took care of patients under the supervision of a registered nurse.  Each was handed a two-year suspension‚ which was suspended for three years on condition that they did not assault patients again.  One registered nurse in Mpumalanga was accused of sexual assault.

• Read this report by Naledi Shange in full at Timeslive

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