A BOLTON residential home nurse has been struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council for misconduct after the death of a 92-year-old woman.

Kimberley Sharon Openshaw, aged 28, was the nurse in charge at Kensington House Nursing and Residential home when the pensioner, who has not been named, began having multiple fits.

The nurse delayed calling an ambulance to the Green Lane, Great Lever home for two and a half hours and the elderly woman died.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council's Professional Conduct Committee was told that the pensioner became ill on July 1 2000 and nurse Openshaw telephoned for a doctor as she lapsed into unconsciousness.

But, when the doctor failed to arrive, nurse Openshaw did nothing more for two and a half hours until eventually calling an ambulance.

Mr David Glendinning for the Council said: "The resident began having multiple fits at 9.30am and between them remained unconscious.

"The respondent recorded that at 12 noon the GP still hadn't arrived and the resident continued to have fits.

"After two and a half hours she still hadn't regained consciousness and only then did she (nurse Openshaw) call an ambulance."

Nurse Openshaw did not attend the hearing in London yesterday and was not represented although she wrote to the committee contesting the allegation.

Home manager Tracey Halligan told the hearing that nurse Openshaw was in charge of the 48-bed home on the day in question.

"Nurse Openshaw told me she had just put the resident in hospital and that she didn't look like she was going to come back because she was in such a poorly state," she said.

"Later she called to say she had passed away in hospital. While having fits she said the resident was bluish and her breathing was shallow."

When Ms Halligan said she asked the nurse whether, with hindsight, she might have done anything differently nurse Openshaw admitted she might have rung for an ambulance sooner.

Committee chairman Rosaleen Malone addressed comments to Openshaw stating the decision was "because of your failure to take appropriate action in caring for a very ill patient."

She also criticised nurse Openshaw for not attending the hearing despite being offered financial help to do so.

Kensington House has changed ownership since the incident and is now known as Meadowbank House.

A spokeswoman for the home said they agreed with the committee's decision to ban Openshaw from working as a registered nurse and stressed that it was two other members of staff at the home who reported her for misconduct.

The spokeswoman added: "The decision of the committee endorses the real situation that only those prepared to give the highest standards of professional care are allowed in the nursing profession.

"It is through this professional qualification that we judge a nurse's competence for employment and if the standards are not adhered to it is only right that they are removed from the professional register."