Jury continue to deliberate in trial of Blackpool Victoria Hospital nurses accused of drugging stroke unit patients

Catherine Hudson, 54, and Charlotte Wilmot, 48, are on trial over the alleged ill-treatment of patients at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

The two nurses’ WhatsApp messages were uncovered following allegations by a whistleblower, Preston Crown Court has heard.

The offending is alleged to have happened between 2017 and 2018.

Ms Hudson, 54, is accused of drugging patients on the stroke unit with unprescribed sleeping pills.

The prosecution claims she targeted her alleged victims for an “easy life” on work shifts and if she disliked patients or their families.

Ms Hudson denies inappropriately giving any drugs and said text conversations with colleagues were “just banter” to relieve the stresses of the job.

She has told jurors that the whole ward was “corrupt” and “95% of the staff” would take medication from the unit and “regrettably” she eventually stole drugs.

Earlier, she told Peter Wright KC, cross-examining, that she tried to report her concerns about wholesale stealing a “couple of times” but never formally to the health trust.

Ms Hudson said a senior colleague told her nothing could be done about it because “we would all be in trouble”.

She told the court: “There was just no point in reporting it to senior management.”

Mr Wright said: “You remained utterly silent about that until your arrest?”

“Yes,” said Hudson.

Mr Wright said: “And you consider yourself to be a nurse of integrity?”

“Yes,” she repeated.

Mr Wright said: “You are a complete fraud, aren’t you?”

The defendant replied: “No.”

Mr Wright said: “The last day-and-a-half has been a performance hasn't it?”

“No,” said Ms Hudson.

Mr Wright went on to say that she had been “found out”, which she denied.

He added: “The truth here is you are the one at the centre of all this?”

She repeated: “No.”

Mr Wright added: “And your little cohort of similar-minded individuals who have shared the joke?”

Ms Hudson said: “No. The text messages were never intended to be anything but a joke.”

Mr Wright claimed Ms Hudson had been trying to minimise her guilt and deflect her misconduct on to others, which she refuted.

In several WhatsApp messages shown to the court, Ms Hudson referred to patients “going night nights” while she was on duty.

She told jurors: “It’s a phrase that a lot of us said.”

Mr Wright said: “’Night nights’ is the mechanism by which you were operating, wasn’t it?”

Ms Hudson said: “No. We thought it was funny. Of course it's not funny now. It means nothing other than humour. It was just humour.”

In another message, Ms Hudson wrote: “What a lovely day I have had in blue bay today. Sedated all the troublemakers lol xxx.”

Mr Wright said: “You were sedating the ‘troublemakers’, weren’t you?”

Ms Hudson said: “Joking.”

Mr Wright said: “At whose expense?”

Ms Hudson said: “In a private message, not at the patient's expense.”

The prosecution say Ms Hudson gave an additional dose of the drug Zopiclone to a male patient, which was revealed in text messages where she wrote to a colleague: “If bed 5 starts he will [be] getting sedated to hell.”

She then posted: “I’ve just sedated him lol he was gearing up to start (laughing emoji) xxx.”

Ms Hudson told the court the messages referred to a prescription of Zopiclone she had given three hours earlier.

Mr Wright said: “You thought that you could do whatever you liked on that ward?”

Ms Hudson said: “I didn't.”

Ms Hudson, of Coriander Close, Blackpool, denies ill-treating four patients and stealing Mebeverine, a medicine.

Ms Wilmot, of Bowland Crescent, Blackpool, denies encouraging Ms Hudson to sedate one of those patients.

Both defendants have also pleaded not guilty to conspiring to ill-treat another patient.

The jury continue to deliberate.