A NURSE was struck off last night after being found guilty of misconduct in her handling of elderly care home patients.

Anglesey nurse Jacqueline D'Ormain, 53, had spoken to elderly patients in an "inappropriate and derogatory manner".

Her rough handling of three residents when she worked at Bryn Mel Manor Care Home at Menai Bridge "exceeded the limits of physical contact for elderly and vulnerable patients".

The professional conduct committee of the Nursing and Midwifery Council spent two days in Chester considering 10 charges of misconduct against Ms D'Ormain, who worked at the home as a State Enrolled Nurse from 1997 until 2002.

She denied all charges. When the committee said they found the facts of all 10 charges proved they asked Ms D'Ormain if she agreed they amounted to misconduct and she said: "Yes."

Ms D'Ormain qualified as a nurse in 1971 and had had no previous complaints against her.

But committee chairwoman Angela Roberts said: "Your name will be removed from the register with immediate effect.

"We considered whether to specify whether the removal should be for a period of time but decided it was not appropriate to specify any period. We carefully read the refer-ences you put forward and listened to the mitigation.

"We know that you have been an enrolled nurse for over 30 years and that these misconduct charges relate to a short period of time.

"We also note that at the time you were quite pressurised having chosen to work excessive hours, but nonetheless the committee regard the verbal and physical abuse of patients in your care as a very serious matter."

Asked if she had anything to say in mitigation, Ms D'Ormain referred to her previous good record and said: "I know it is a big blip but I would like you to take that into consideration.

"Maybe I was overworked, I didn't feel I was overworked. There was pressure because we were understaffed." But she said she loved her job at the home. There was some "back biting" among the staff, but she loved caring for people.

In one incident when she was asked to help a care assistant to lift a resident from her wheelchair to her bed, she grabbed the resident under the arms and lifted her before the assistant was ready and the resident and assistant fell onto the bed.

Another resident was "frog-marched" to a lift and another resident suffering from dementia was roughly grabbed around the neck by Ms D'Ormain and dragged backwards out of the kitchen.

Ms D'Ormain denied any of the incidents happened the way they were described.

When told there was a resident in earshot while she was swearing, she said: "I am f***ing p****d off looking after stupid f***ing people anyway." She denied this and said she had warned other members of staff about swearing in front of residents.

She was also accused of telling a resident who persistently banged her spoon on a dish "Do you want to wear that bowl?" But Ms D'Ormain produced a witness statement from another ex-worker who said a different member of staff had said those words.

Since leaving the home Ms D'Ormain said she was working in administration for a big store and had just had her third promotion.

She said she did not want to return to nursing. She was now doing work less stressful and physically not as demanding. Her registration as a nurse was due for renewal in 2006 but she said: "I won't be going back to it."