A nurse has been suspended after a hearing found her bad practice had contributed to the death of a patient at West Middlesex Hospital.

Alice Teixeira was working at the hospital in Twickenham Road, Isleworth, on March 31 last year when the patient died after their ventilator became disconnected.

She agreed to keep an eye on the patient - who had motor neurone disease and required one-to-one attention - during a colleague's break, despite already having been allocated two other high-need patients, a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) misconduct panel heard.

By failing to inform her seniors she required assistance to provide adequate care, the panel found she had contributed to the patient's death as it meant no nurse was immediately available to respond when the ventilator became detached.

Ms Teixeira, who has worked at the hospital since December 2012, was given a six-month suspension order following the five day hearing, which ended last Friday (December 4). She is still employed by the hospital trust, the NMC said.

"The panel found that your misconduct contributed to the death of Patient A and put your other patients at risk of harm," the NMC ruling states.

"The panel found that your actions in respect of all the charges found proved, including your dishonesty, had brought the nursing profession into disrepute and breached fundamental tenets of the profession."

'Systemic failings identified'

Ms Teixeira, who was working in the high dependency unit on the day in question, told the panel she had been busy with another patient at the time and had not heard the alarm when the ventilator became disconnected.

The panel recognised she had expressed remorse and that the trust had identified "systemic failings" in respect of the unit at the time, including a poor handover process, inaudible alarms and inadequate management of staff breaks.

Ms Teixeira admitted six charges, including contributing to a patient's death by failing to ensure adequate care and misadministering drugs on her return to work in October last year.

She denied a seventh charge of attempting to misrepresent the time of the surgical team attending to her patient, which was found to be unproven.

"We deeply regret this incident offer our full apologies"

The hospital was run by West Middlesex University Hospital Trust (WMUHT) at the time of the incident. It is now part of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which acquired WMUHT earlier this year.

A spokesman for West Middlesex Hospital said: "The safety and care of our patients is paramount, which is why Ms Teixeria was subject to an urgent and full investigation.

"This was done in line with our Trust safeguarding and disciplinary policies and we subsequently referred the case to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

"The NMC made a decision to suspend Ms Teixeria from the professional nursing register on Friday 4 December. This means she is no longer able to practise as a registered or qualified nurse for the period as defined by the NMC.

"Our internal investigation panel will now act quickly to respond to this situation.

"We deeply regret this incident offer our full apologies."