A NURSE faces a ­professional hearing for allegedly failing to check on a dying patient for five hours and telling the family he was alive after he had died.

Darren Diplexcito, 30, allegedly phoned the family of the Ninewells Hospital patient to tell them he would pass away that day - when in fact he had already died.

The nurse, who worked at the hospital's renal unit, faces a series of charges of falsifying records, giving false information to the patient's family and knowingly giving false accounts to the head of nursing.

In October 2012, a Nursing and Midwifery Council panel placed Mr Diplexcito, of Montrose, Angus, under supervision for 18 months.

He now faces a full conduct fitness-to-practise hearing next month over the incident, which took place on the morning of May 5, 2011. If found guilty he could be struck off.