A NURSE from Swindon who tormented patients by calling them "smelly" has been struck off.

Lesley Guttridge, 49, verbally abused vulnerable residents at a nursing home in the idyllic surroundings of the Cotswolds, the Nursing and Midwifery Council disciplinary committee heard.

On one occasion, she told an old woman it was about time she died and on another, she roughly handled an old lady while putting her to bed and told care assistants not to change and wash the patients.

Mrs Guttridge was working at the 51-bed Cotswold Nursing and Residential Home, near Burford, between December 1998 and her dismissal in December 2000. The Nursing and Midwifery Council heard how the nurse referred to one woman known as as patient A as "silly and smelly".

She also told the incontinent woman with progressive dementia that it was about time she died. She called another patient a "silly cow" and "a stupid and miserable bitch". And Guttridge derided another resident as "disgusting" as she tried to feed her.

The home's matron, Pat Hamilton, told the hearing: "I was concerned about her communication with residents and her accountability as a nurse and her attitude with residents.

"One of the most upsetting things to me was that one of the residents, patient A, was suffering from progressive dementia. She needed total care. She was incontinent and unable to communicate her needs and she was addressed in an unsuitable way. I was very shocked by this and upset by this."

The allegations only came to light after concerns about her care of at least five residents were raised by colleagues. Care assistant Diane Baker broke down and wept as she recalled the nurse's treatment of a woman known only as patient E.

She said: "It was upsetting to watch her feed her. She couldn't help what was wrong with her but nurse Guttridge would tell her she was disgusting and tried to force food into her mouth. This would get her more flustered and she was be told she was disgusting and dirty when she spluttered. She hated it, she was so embarrassed you could see it in her eyes," she said.

"She is a very proud lady and it was very hard for her."

Care assistant Marie Griffiths, who also broke down, added: "Patient E got the worse treatment. She kept calling her a miserable bitch. She would make her stay in a soiled incontinence pad and wouldn't let us change it."

Guttridge, who did not attend the hearing, was dismissed after a disciplinary hearing in December 2000. She faced four charges of misconduct relating to her inappropriate use of language, instructing of assistants not to wash and change residents, rough handling of a patient and inappropriate methods of feeding residents.

The committee found the facts proved and committee chairman, Mrs Eileen Walker, said nurse Guttridge would be removed from the register immediately because she had "acted in a way detrimental to patients' interests and safety by roughly handling them and telling care assistants not to attend their needs."