Nurse denies killing elderly resident to ease workload

A nursing home nurse gave an elderly resident an overdose of
sedatives in order to reduce her workload, Newcastle crown court
heard.

Prosecutor John Milford QC told the court that resident Alice
Grant had required “a considerable amount of nursing” and that
there was evidence to suggest that Alison Firth was “a lazy nurse
who didn’t practice to a high standard”.

Milford asked the court: “Was she taking out on Alice Grant her
dissatisfaction with her employers, her dissatisfaction with life
in general, or did it simplify her work if there was no Alice
Grant?”

Firth initially denied to police that she had given Grant the
sedative, but now admits administering the drug to ease the
resident’s suffering, but not with the intent to kill.

Firth, of Kingston Park, Newcastle, denies the murder of Grant
in May last year. The trial continues.