Covid tests liar nurse can return to work

A nursing home manager who lied to her staff about positive Covid-19 tests at a care home where seven people died has been allowed to return to work.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) was told that, during the pandemic, Joanne Burchell "allowed" staff members with the virus to work at the Holmesley Nursing Home in Sidford, Devon.

A 2024 inquest into the deaths of the seven elderly people who died at the home found that measures to protect residents from the virus were not "effectively or consistently" followed by staff.

Burchell was initially suspended, but an NMC panel has now ruled she can return to nursing with conditions placed on her practising.

William Wilkinson, 102, Doris Lockett, 92, Roy Gilliam, 96, Jean Hartley, 81, Susan Skinner, 70, Ronald Bampfylde, 92, and Stanislawa Koch, 93, died in March or April 2021 after contracting coronavirus at the home.

During the inquest, it was alleged some staff did not wear face masks or personal protective equipment, that others continued working after testing positive and that Burchell ignored test results.

The NMC heard that towards the end of the second wave of the virus, Burchell told staff their Covid-19 test results were negative when the results were actually positive.

It was also told Burchell said "positive lateral flow test results were inaccurate and/or negative because the tests used were from a faulty batch" when she had "no clinical basis for doing so".

The NMC was told that Burchell oversaw a number of breaches of infection prevention and control measures, including residents with symptoms not being isolated, staff members not wearing masks consistently and residents not being isolated when admitted or readmitted to the home.

She was suspended for 12 months by the NMC Fitness to Practise Committee in 2025, with a later review extending the suspension order for six months.

Earlier this month, a review panel deemed that her "fitness to practise remains impaired on both public protection and public interest grounds".

But it said conditions could be placed on her registration which would "serve to protect the public and uphold public confidence in the nursing profession" while allowing her to return to work.

These include developing a personal development plan which addresses concerns relating to infection prevention and control.

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