Appalling WhatsApp messages of cruel nurses Catherine Hudson and Charlotte Wilmot who sedated stroke patients for their own amusement
An NHS nurse and a care assistant threatened to kill a patient on a hospital stroke unit and bragged about sedating another ‘within an inch of her life’, appalling WhatsApp messages reveal.
Catherine Hudson, 54, and Charlotte Wilmot, 48, have today been found guilty of drugging ‘troublemaker’ patients at Blackpool Victoria Hospital for their ‘own amusement’ and an ‘easy life’. The pair are said to have targeted patients if they disliked them or their relatives.
Messages between the pair – which were uncovered after a probe was launched into alleged misconduct – showed how ‘callous and dangerous’ Hudson wrote to her friend that she was going to ‘kill bed 5’ and planned to give one patient ‘the best sleep she ever had’.
In another message to a colleague, Hudson wrote: ‘What a lovely day I have had in blue bay today. Sedated all the troublemakers lol xxx.’
In May 2016, in response to Hudson suggesting the sedation of a patient, Wilmot replied: ‘Ha ha yeah sedation we love it.’
The friends were today warned that they face jail for their crimes. Neither nurse has ever been accused of causing any deaths, although patients on their ward were ‘profoundly unwell’.
Prosecutors said a ‘culture of abuse’ was revealed on the unit when police examined WhatsApp phone messages between the co-defendants and other members of staff.
In addition to bragging about drugging patients, Hudson’s messages showed an apparent lack of care for the quality of patient care.