What happened
On 19 February 2021 a registered NHS nurse visited Millport Care Centre in Millport, North Ayrshire, to give Covid-19 vaccinations to residents. One resident, described at the hearing as Service User A, had a learning disability. Two attempts to give her second vaccination in the dining room earlier that day had not gone ahead.
She was then held on the floor of her bedroom by the care home manager and two other members of staff, and the injection was given while she was held, through her clothing. Evidence to the panel was that she was shouting, screaming and struggling. One witness described a “horrific” scene and said the manager had restrained the resident’s head with her hands.
The manager told the NHS nurse to inject through the resident’s clothing, and said she would not report that the injection had been given that way.
The outcome
Seven charges against the manager were proved and two were not. The Nursing and Midwifery Council panel found her use of force “horrific” and a significant departure from the standards expected of nurses.
It found she had given a “dishonest and self serving” account of the day and described “sustained deceit”, and said the true nature of the case emerged only because of a whistle-blower. It rejected her account that she had been overwhelmed. Her fitness to practise was found impaired and she was struck off the register, subject to an appeal.
No criminal proceedings are recorded. The determination was reported in April 2026, without a date for the hearing’s conclusion.
What went wrong
The panel found the vaccine did not have to be given that day and that the nurse could have visited later. A task that could wait was done by force because waiting was inconvenient.
The service also knew what brief restraint looked like. Restraint was at times used to feed this resident, but only for short periods.
Two people in the room were uneasy. One told the manager that this level of restraint was deeply inappropriate and that she could not do this, and was sworn at. Another felt he could not raise a concern with the other nurses. The panel found her actions placed the resident at risk of physical harm.
What it teaches
Restraint used to deliver a treatment or a public health task is restraint. If a task cannot be done without holding someone on the floor, the task stops and the decision goes up, not down.
The second lesson is about the people standing next to the hold. The measure of a service is whether the person who says “I can’t do this” is heard before the restraint, not after it.
Questions for the room
- The vaccine could have waited a day. What in your service would have stopped this before the bedroom door closed?
- A colleague says “I can’t do this” during a hold. What happens in the next minute, and who decides?
- One witness felt unable to raise a concern with the nurses around him. What would have made it possible, and what does that say about the shift?
Evidence and limits
Confidence: probable. The findings, the seven charges proved and the strike-off rest on a single detailed press report of the Nursing and Midwifery Council determination. The determination itself was not opened for this page. The report gives no date for the hearing’s conclusion, so none is stated, and the strike-off is subject to appeal.
The resident is not named. The manager is not named either: a regulatory sanction is not a criminal conviction, so she is described by role and sector only. No finding is made here about any other member of staff.
Our restraint reduction training covers what to do when a care task cannot be completed without force.
Sources
Reviewed 20 October 2026.