THE nurse who mistakenly gave a patient a lethal dose of the wrong medication is "unlikely" to lose her job.

Craig Richardson, aged 37, suffered a massive heart attack when the incorrect fluid was put into his intravenous drip.

As revealed in the BEN last night, he died despite frantic efforts to save his life at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

The nurse at the centre of the controversy has not been identified and although she was initially suspended is now back working at the hospital on a part-time basis under supervision.

Her fate will now be decided by a professional nursing body.

But the UK Central Council for Nursing and Midwifery has said that she is unlikely to be struck off the nursing register.

The nurse did not appear at an inquest into the death of Mr Richardson. The coroner made the ruling saying it was to protect her from "public humiliation and degradation".

Mr Richardson died on New Years Day two hours after being given the wrong fluid in an intravenous drip.

Now the UKCC is to scrutinise the nurse's record to make sure it was an isolated incident, as has been claimed by the Royal Bolton Hospital.

A spokesman for the UKCC said: "We will look at all the possible avenues which have been gone through and will decide on her future over the next couple of months.

"It is unlikely that a nurse who has made just one mistake will be struck off because this is not considered to be professional misconduct." The UKCC is an independent body which registers all nurses practising across the United Kingdom.

If the body decides that there is a case to answer, she will appear before a professional conduct hearing which will be in the public arena.

But these hearings are usually reserved for nurses who have a record of mistakes.

The nurse was unwell on the day of the incident and had been suffering with her contact lenses which altered her eyesight.

The case is the latest in a string of high-profile medical mistakes which have resulted in the death of hospital patients throughout Britain. In January, Wayne Jowett, aged 18, was wrongly injected with a cancer drug in his spine at a hospital in Nottingham. He died a month later.

And in the same month in London, three-year-old Najiyah Hussain died after being given "laughing gas" instead of oxygen.

North-west regional officer for the Royal College of Nursing, Liz Judge, said that nurses were under mounting pressure from staff shortages causing work pressures to increase.

Mrs Judge said: "The nurse in question is a member of the RCN and we realise that this was a terrible mistake. It was tragic for all concerned.

"The RCN will now be putting the Royal Bolton Hospital under scrutiny to adhere to their reviewed policies to make sure this never happens again.

"Nurses have always worked hard. Their workload is immense. But now there is a need for more staff and shorter shift patterns and support.

"But everyone gets tired no matter what job they do. Every nurse is accountable for their own actions."