General Medical Council could strike off Pearl Ramkissoon after she was fired for gross misconduct

A nurse called a pensioner a ‘piece of s***’ and told him he was from the gutter when he asked how long he would have to wait to see a doctor, a hearing was told today (Monday).

Pearl Ramkissoon allegedly hurled abuse at the patient when he complained he had not yet received medical attention at Central Middlesex Hospital in Acton Lane, Park Royal.

Ramkissoon was working on the reception desk of the ear, nose and throat department when she is alleged to have launched into her outburst.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council heard the nurse began squabbling with the patient during a shift on November 27, 2008.

Ramkissoon is said to have told the patient, ‘Don’t wave your dirty little finger at me’, before asking: ‘Are you from the gutter, you dirty little s***?’

The nurse was suspended from duty the following month before she was fired for gross following an internal investigation in early 2009.

During the probe, Ramkissoon claimed the patient had called her a ‘s***’ first.

Nurse Matthew Knight told the panel he had been working as a nurse in the same department when he heard ‘raised voices’ as he filled out paperwork in a small office near the reception.

He said he had seen the patient wag his finger at Ramkissoon when he went to investigate where the raised voices were coming from.

He added: “She said, ‘’You shouldn’t talk to me like that. Don’t you point your dirty little finger at me! Are you from the gutter?’”

Ramkissoon is not attending the hearing which will decide whether her fitness to practise has been impaired by her misconduct as she is ill, but she has sent a representative.

She has not formally admitted or denied any of the charges against.

The hearing continues.