County durham mental health nurse hit vulnerable female patient with a tray

RAYMOND EHIEMERE WAS FOUND BY A NURSING AND MIDWIFERY COUNCIL HEARING TO HAVE HIT A FEMALE PATIENT WITH A TRAY USED TO CARRY SHARP MATERIALS 02:21, 02 Jun 2025 An experienced mental health

nurse hit a "vulnerable" female patient with a sharps tray after she threw a cup of water over him. Raymond Ehiemere, who was working in County Durham at the time as an agency

nurse, then claimed to colleagues that the patient had in fact hit him with the tray, which was not the case. Mr Ehiemere has been found to have committed serious misconduct following a

Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) hearing which ended this week. He has consequently been suspended from the nursing register for a year. Mr Ehiemere had denied striking the patient with

the tray - and he also denied lying about it afterwards. But an NMC panel found that CCTV footage of the incident showed him doing so. In mitigation, the panel heard how this had been a

"one-off" and Mr Ehiemere had an otherwise "unblemished" 24-year career which had also seen him take leadership and mentoring roles, and teach others. In findings

addressed to Mr Ehiemere and published following the hearing,the panel said: "Having considered the CCTV footage, the panel noted that there was an opportunity for you to distance

yourself from Patient A immediately after they threw the water at you. "Your actions were not in accordance with your training or level of experience. On the balance of probabilities,

the panel determined that you did intentionally strike the patient with the sharps tray and accordingly find this charge proved." OUR CHRONICLELIVE DAILY NEWSLETTER IS FREE. YOU CAN

SIGN UP TO RECEIVE IT HERE. IT WILL KEEP YOU UP TO DATE WITH ALL THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS AND TOP STORIES FROM THE NORTH EAST. Article continues below In considering if Mr Ehiemere's

actions constituted misconduct, the panel said: "The panel carefully considered the CCTV evidence and were satisfied that Patient A had picked up the cup of water and thrown it in a

downward motion onto your chest area. However, despite this having preceded your actions towards Patient A, the panel believe that striking Patient A on the head was a completely

disproportionate response to the situation you found yourself in. "The panel determined that your actions amount to serious misconduct in that you assaulted a vulnerable female patient

and subsequently gave an inaccurate account of the incident. It is the panel’s view that this was in order to minimise the seriousness of your actions." The panel later added that it

believed the wider public would take a dim view of Mr Ehiemere's behaviour. They said: "The panel was of the view that fellow registrants and members of the public would find your

actions, which resulted in a vulnerable female patient in care being assaulted by someone with a duty of care towards them, deplorable and below the standards expected of any registered

nurse." JOIN OUR WHATSAPP COMMUNITIES ChronicleLive is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our communities. We have a number of communities to join, so you can choose which one you

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community Join our Sunderland community Join our NUFC community Join our SAFC community Join our Great North Run community Join our shopping deals and bargains community Three charges in

relation to the incident - which took place on October 31 2023 - were found proven. They were that Mr Ehiemere had "intentionally struck" the patient with the sharps tray, that he

had then - on November 6 - given a statement to colleagues in which he "incorrectly stated" that he had not struck the patient, and that she had then attempted to snatch the tray

from him and hit him with it. A third charge of dishonesty was also proven. In his statement Mr Ehiemere had said: "I was disorientated, confused, taken aback and blinded by the water

and in the spontaneity of the moment, sought to defend myself…" However the panel did not accept that his actions had been "an appropriate response to defend yourself".

Article continues below Mr Ehiemere told the panel that he accepted his statement had not been accurate but denied that his intention had been to mislead colleagues. He is also reported as

having said a the incident was a “one-off” and that his actions "were not done out of malice but during the provision of service and was 'contrary to [your] profession of 24

years'". This was taken into account in mitigation as the panel decided it would not be proportionate to strike Mr Ehiemere off the nursing register. His registration will be

suspended for a year.