A NURSE has been struck off after leaving a vulnerable patient lying on the floor unable to get up.

Stella Punithavalli was working at the Ailsa Craig Care Home in Glasgow in August 2009 when she failed to help other staff members to lift a elderly dementia patient who was stuck on the floor.

Ms Punithavalli carried on with her medication rounds instead of helping, even though it was known that the patient had already suffered a fractured hip from an earlier fall a few months previously.

During a later night shift, while in charge of the care home, Ms Punithavalli also shut a door in a different patient's face while he was trying to talk to her.

Ms Punithavalli, who resigned from the care home in October 2009 before the internal disciplinary hearing took place, has been struck off the nurses register, it was revealed yesterday, after a fitness to practice panel found her guilty of a string of charges relating to the care of the elderly patients at the home.