Blackpool nurse found guilty of ill-treatment towards patients on Stroke unit
Healthcare assistant Charlotte Wilmot was also found guilty
Last updated 5th Oct 2023
A nurse has been found guilty of ill-treating patients on a hospital stroke unit by giving them sedatives to "keep them quiet and compliant".
Catherine Hudson, 54, drugged two patients for an "easy life" during work shifts at Blackpool Victoria Hospital between February 2017 and November 2018.
Jurors at Preston Crown Court also convicted her of conspiring with a junior colleague, Charlotte Wilmot, 48, to administer a sedative to a third patient.
Hudson was cleared of ill-treating two other patients.
Judge Robert Altham, the Honorary Recorder of Preston, remanded Hudson into custody following the verdicts, which were reached after nearly 14 hours of deliberation.
He said: "The sentence for Catherine Hudson plainly has to be a sentence of immediate custody.
"The only question is the length."
Judge Altham granted bail to Wilmot, who was also convicted of encouraging Hudson to drug a patient, but told her the "overwhelming likelihood" was that she too would receive an immediate custodial term.
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