A mental health nurse who missed one of his patients assaulting another then faked observations has been cautioned over the incident.

Shaune Millin was the nurse in charge of a ward at the private Ellingworth Hospital in Attleborough when a patient assaulted another.

A Nursing and Midwifery Council fitness to practice committee heard that the assaults happened within a 30-minute window during which neither patient was observed.

According to their care plans, the victim of the assault required four observations per hour, while the other patient required two.

But it later emerged Mr Millin had falsely recorded that the observations had taken place. 

The panel heard that on the day Mr Millin, an agency worker drafted in by Priory, had arrived late for his shift.

There were four patients on the ward at the time and four members of staff - including Mr Millian - with one person requiring the supervision of two members of staff.

It meant the ward was understaffed and as the nurse in charge it was Mr Millan's duty to record the short staffing as an incident and try and source additional workers.

However, the panel heard this task was also not completed.

Following the incident, which saw the private hospital rated as inadequate by the Care Quality Commission, Mr Millan was referred to the NMC to assess his fitness to practice.

But the committee stopped short of suspending him from nursing - instead serving him a caution.

A Priory spokesman said: "We referred Shaune Millin to the NME in 2019 after he worked for us as an agency nurse at a service which closed several years ago, and have not employed him since.

"Patient safety is our priority and it is standard practice to alert the NME should we have any concerns about the conduct, competency or health of a registered nurse or nursing associate."