A CARE home nurse who abandoned an OAP who was struggling to breathe has been struck off the register.

Sheryl Gillespie is said to have told a colleague she would check on the elderly resident, whose lips were turning blue, and then walked out of the home without permission on Christmas Day.

The incident happened at Torrance Lodge Care Home in Kilmarnock.

Ms Gillespie was not present for a disciplinary hearing of the Nursing and Midwifery Council where she was hit with the most serious sanction.

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The incident happened on December 25. The nurse was asked to check on a resident who was experiencing breathlessness at 8.20am but instead, left the home or failed to record if she had checked the OAP.

In a written statement she admitted her actions had placed vulnerable elderly people at risk in the home, which is managed by Thorntoun Ltd.

Another separate charge, found proved, states that she lied on an application form for a job with Gate Healthcare Ltd.

She states that she had left her previous employer for “personal reasons” when, in fact, she had been sacked.

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The NMC panel said there was a risk of harm to patients if she was allowed to continue working as a nurse.

It said: “The panel determined that it was necessary to take action to prevent Miss Gillespie from practising in the future and concluded that the only sanction that would adequately protect the public and serve the public interest was a striking off order.”