A nurse has been suspended after she was caught having naps while on duty - including in an operating theatre. Nomsa Mbelle 'used to fall asleep a lot' while working at a hospital, a professional conduct committee heard.
One colleague even took a photo of her dozing in an operating room used for surgery. On another occasion, another member of staff went looking for her as no one knew where she was, and found her in a store room with her head bowed and the lights off, the panel heard.
But when challenged Ms Mbelle claimed she was 'just resting'. The committee was told that concerns were also raised after Ms Mbelle turned to a senior colleague during a shift and suddenly bit her arm.
She was also accused of writing a patient's notes like a 'two year old' child. Ms Mbelle was referred to the Nursing and Midwifery Council Fitness to Practice Committee by the theatre manager and has now been suspended for a year for misconduct.
The hearing was told that at the time, Ms Mbelle was working at Barlborough NHS Treatment Centre in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, as a scrub nurse and surgical first assistant. In 2018, an operating department practitioner, known only as Colleague A, told the panel Ms Mbelle bit her arm randomly while they were working together.
The hearing, held remotely, was told: "At some point during our shift, [Ms Mbelle] and I were standing in the theatre coffee room. Without warning she suddenly turned to me and bit my upper left arm.
"We were just stood by the sink and she just bit my arm without saying anything. It was such a random thing to do and I have no idea why she did that."
This incident was witnessed by another colleague. The panel heard in 2019, she did not provide the correct surgical instruments with a colleague saying she unpacked them incorrectly, repeatedly counting them while mumbling to herself as if in a 'trance'.
In February that year, Colleague A said Ms Mbelle had made illegible notes in an operation report. The patient's notes were full of 'scribbles' and 'lines' with no actual writing, as if a two year old was trying to write, the committee was told.
That same month, a member of staff, known only as Colleague F, took a picture on her phone of Ms Mbelle sleeping while on duty and sent it to her manager. The panel heard: "She had seemingly gone to sleep. I could see that she was not awake and her eyes were shut.
"This was not the first time this had occurred, she used to fall asleep a lot… In this instance it looked to me like she was having a nap."
Another colleague also spotted Ms Mbelle taking a nap later that year and told the committee: "I saw [Ms Mbelle] sleeping on duty... She was missing and theatre staff did not know her whereabouts.
"I looked around for [Ms Mbelle] and found her in a prothesis store room. She was sat on a stool with her head down and I asked what she was doing. I obviously startled [Ms Mbelle], who replied 'I was just resting'.
"The lights in the store room were off when and it was a dark environment. It looked like she was more than resting because when I spoke to her I made her ‘jump’ and had she been fully awake, this would not have been the case."
The panel heard in February 2019, Ms Mbelle seemed 'confused' and did not scrub correctly, compromising sterility, and had to be reminded to wash off the antiseptic liquid before going into theatre. Suspending her for a year, the panel concluded: "Ms Mbelle has demonstrated no evidence of insight...there is no explanation for her behaviour or evidence of steps taken to address these failings."
