A NURSE who got a job at Southend Hospital despite struggling to speak English has been struck off after making a series of errors.

Francesco Gatta put patients’ safety at risk when he worked as a nurse at Southend Hospital.

He committed a string of errors including reconnecting a contaminated IV to a patient and not immediately helping a patient who had disconnected his oxygen and was struggling to breath.

A disciplinary panel of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) was held to determine his fitness to practice last week in Edinburgh.

The panel heard evidence that Mr Gatta did not possess the necessary knowledge of English to practise safely as a registered nurse.

He also failed to undertake a language test which he was required to do by the NMC between May and July 2017.

During his time at Southend Hospita in 2016 Mr Gatta made a catalogue of errors.

Others included administering drugs intravenously when he was not signed off as competent to do so, recording a patient was alert and oriented when they were not and improperly discarding medication.

Mr Gatta was also unable to complete admission, missed hourly blood pressure recordings and care plan paperwork and on one occasion left a sponge in a patient’s mouth.

Mr Gatta, who has since relocated to Germany, made no attempts to remedy the situation by improving his English.

As a result, the panel found his fitness to practice impaired on the grounds of public protection.

Paul Hopley, the chairman of the panel, said: “The panel considered that if a member of the public were made aware of all the circumstances in Mr Gatta’s case, they would expect a finding of impairment on public interest grounds. The panel therefore concluded that a finding of impairment was necessary in the public interest.”

Mr Gatta told the NMC in July 2018 he no longer wanted to work as a nurse. He is due to be struck off next month. Southend Hospital was contacted for comment.