Gobowen nurse admits long hours amid misconduct claims

Debbie Povall was in charge of Powys ward at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic (RJAH) Hospital in Gobowen, near Oswestry, when she sent the text message to another colleague in autumn 2018.

Ms Povall has admitted failing to preserve patient safety by working excessive hours between June 2018 and June 2019, but denied other charges she faces as part of a Nursery and Midwifery Council (NMC) hearing.

Ms Povall, who remains in her role as a registered nurse providing healthcare assessments for the Department for Work and Pensions, gave evidence when the part-heard hearing resumed this week.

“As I talk, maybe I’m not being ‘fluffy’ with how I communicate with people – if there’s something to be said, I’d say it,” said Ms Povall.

“On practical points, it would be more direct, but I don’t I’m direct when it comes to more personal things and ‘gentler’ discussions.

“I had a lot of discussions with staff, but I can see, especially if there is a lot of pressure on, that maybe my communication style would be a bit more direct and maybe [I did] not always think how that came across.”

The panel previously heard from some of Ms Povall’s former colleagues, who criticised her managerial style.

Heather Owen, now a ward manager at RJAH, said Ms Povall made her feel “scared, threatened and intimidated” because she would shout at her and “put her down”, while Elinor Jones said that she occasionally felt humiliated by 'nit-picking' Ms Povall.

The chair of the panel, Richard Weydert, asked Ms Povall if she felt her “direct communication” could come across as being intimidating, or even perceived as bullying, when she was speaking to someone junior to her.

“In my head, as a manager, my approach was to support, develop and help the staff – whether that will be from a personal level, from something on the ward," she said.

“And for those who didn’t want development – that was fine. Some people are quite happy where they are.

“I think, when I had time off, I was probably much more able to communicate that well and was more unapproachable.

“I think when I was tired, that side dropped. I also think my team were kind and they didn’t necessarily want to put additional pressure on me."

Ms Povall said “the gold standard” would be that a Band 7 nurse would not have a clinical workload, and would instead carry out a “supervisory” role, but in a five-day working week, she said that, for three of them, she would work in a clinical capacity.

“I thought I was helping my team,” said Ms Povall.

“However, the flip side of that was, what was not attended to, was the managerial side of the role. And that was where some frustrations were felt because people had to plan their lives, which put massive pressures on people.

“I understood that, but equally in my head, I would be screaming, ‘I haven’t got enough time in my head to do all of this’, and I guess the clinical side always won."

Ms Povall said she raised her concerns with the matron at the time, and there were meetings, but reflected that it should have been raised more formally.

“Having had a significant amount of time away from the area, I realised how tired I was and how much it was impacting me as an individual,” she added.

The accusations against her include:

• Prioritising the administration of a controlled drug over assisting an incontinent patient who had soiled themselves
• Declining to assist with a patient’s catheter and requesting for him to continue with observations instead
• Failing to maintain patient care by implementing rigid routines by making staff work from one end of the ward to another in the morning leaving high risk patients without any supervision
• Telling a colleague to “leave the patient and see will wee” rather than request a bladder scan, failing to escalate care for a patient whose oxygen saturation had dropped
• Saying a patient can “go home tomorrow” despite having low haemogoblin and requiring a blood transfusion
• Failing to isolate a patient who had not had a scan for a type of bacteria
• Not recording a patient’s blood results on the handover notes
• Failing to take the necessary checks when discharging patients, including one who raised concerns that she had no food at home.

The NMC and Ms Povall were due to give their closing speeches on Thursday (December 18). The hearing continues.