05 October 2023 , 21:46
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Sickening messages which two nurses shared about drugging patients at work have been revealed.
The two nurses sent a string of callous messages bragging about the potentially deadly actions. Catherine Hudson and Charlotte Wilmot talked about stealing drugs for their own use and laughed about sedating patients to make shifts at Blackpool Victoria Hospital easier. The pair were found guilty of multiple offences earlier after a trial at Preston Crown Court.
As part of that court process, messages have been released which showed them laughing about the acts as they discussed sedating one patient "to high heaven" and another to "within an inch her life." LancsLive reports that in one exchange, Hudson discussed sedating one patient and after saying 'he's out by a light' accompanied by laughing emojis, Wilmot responding "psml" and 'praise the lord' along with emojis for pills and needles.
Catherine Hudson, right, and Charlotte Wilmot, left, pictured leaving Preston Crown Court, Lancashire (James Maloney/Lancs Live)During the four week trial at Preston Crown Court, the jury has heard shocking reports of how staff on the unit routinely stole drugs and made cruel jokes about the vulnerable patients in their care. When two patients became agitated or "hard work", Hudson would administer sedatives to make the lives of herself and her colleagues easier. The court heard in 2017 and 2018, there was "a culture of abuse" on the ward, with staff able to help themselves to Zopiclone, a sedative, and other drugs for their own use or to drug patients. A WhatsApp group chat included messages, joking about sedating patients.
In 2018, a student nurse who was on placement at the stroke unit blew the whistle on the practice, sparking an investigation into the way the unit was operating. Five members of staff were charged with stealing drugs from the unit, with Hudson and Wilmot also charged with conspiring to ill-treat their patients.
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Transcript of messaging conversation between Catherine Hudson and Charlotte Wilmot where they discuss ill-treatment of patients (Lancashire Constabulary / SWNS)
The details of the callous conversations which Catherine Hudson and Charlotte Wilmot had (Lancashire Constabulary / SWNS)During the investigation which followed the student nurse’s report the drug was being misused, it emerged that in September and October 2018, 1100 zopiclone tablets were dispensed from the hospital pharmacy for use in the stroke unit, the jury was told. Only 207 were reported as having been prescribed and 222 recorded as being administered, leaving 671 unaccounted for.
Hudson, who worked on the stroke unit at Blackpool Victoria Hospital as a senior nurse, was found to have needlessly sedated patients between 2017 and 2018 with Wilmot, an assistant practitioner, encouraging her to do so. Both committed the acts for their own amusement, out of spite for the patients and to have an easy shift.
Hudson sedated patients, with complete disregard to the consequence. Experts provided evidence during the trial, describing the risk of administrating non-prescribed sedatives to patients, particularly those who are elderly and vulnerable, as being potentially life threatening. Hudson and Wilmot knew the risks but simply did not care.
So lax were the restrictions of prescription only drugs on the stroke unit, staff would help themselves and self-medicate or steal drugs to supply to others. Drugs such as Zopiclone were stolen and used to drug patients. A number of staff members were arrested during the course of the investigation and their mobile devices seized.
A review of their messages revealed a significant number of exchanges describing patients and their families in the most derogatory and cruellest terms. Laughing about harm that the patients had come to whilst on the unit and bragging about how they had drugged them.
Blackpool Victoria Hospital where the nurses worked (MEN MEDIA)Hudson and Wilmot admitted conspiring to steal and Hudson admitted a further offence of perverting the course of justice. Following a trial, Hudson was found guilty of three counts of ill treatment and one count of conspiracy to ill treat and Wilmot found guilty of conspiracy to ill treat and encouraging Hudson to sedate a patient.
After her arrest, Hudson was heard telling a family member: "It’s almost like a hidden- a- a little inside rule, you know, that we all have, that you stick together, whatever you do, er, it’s- it’s just taken to the grave. We say that all the time, ‘we take that to the grave, take that to the grave’, (and) this stupid f***ing student nurse has spoilt that, for (all)"
The pair will be sentenced on December 12 and 13. Detective Chief Inspector Jill Johnston, from Lancashire Police, said: “Hudson and Wilmot ill treated the very people who they were supposed to care for. This was a complete abuse of their position of trust – trust that the victims and their families had, expecting them to be looked after and made to feel safe. The reality was sadly quite the opposite.