The ill-treatment in Blackpool Victoria Hospital of a paralysed stroke victim will “haunt” her family for the rest of their lives, a court has heard. In October, nurse Catherine Hudson, 54, was found guilty at Preston Crown Court of giving the sedative zopiclone, a class C controlled drug, to Aileen Scott, 76, to keep her “quiet and compliant”.
Hudson was convicted of illegally drugging a second patient and conspiring with a junior colleague, Charlotte Wilmot, 48, to administer a sedative to a third – with the intention of giving themselves an “easy life” on shifts the hospital. Lancashire Constabulary were called in November 2018 to investigate after a whistleblowing student nurse on a work placement said Hudson suggested administering unprescribed zopiclone to a patient. The student nurse was further troubled when Hudson commented: “Well she’s got a DNAR (do not attempt resuscitation) in place so she wouldn’t be opened up if she died or like if it came to any har