A NURSING manager at a disgraced care home has been struck off the register.
Michael Battersby, who ran the Ralphs Close residential facility in Derry, has been found guilty of professional misconduct by his professional body, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC),
Four years ago, a confidential NHS report leaked to the Irish News revealed the scale of neglect and cruelty at the home - with investigators concluding it amounted to "institutional abuse".
Patients at the residential unit suffered from severe learning disabilities and many were unable to walk or talk.
Mr Battersby managed Ralphs Close between late November 2011 and September 2012, and was found guilty of a litany of incidents linked to his failure to report vulnerable residents sustaining unexplained injuries.
The leaked safeguarding report, which was commissioned by the Western health trust, contained details of ill-treatment which went back to 2006.
One worker "knocked daylights" out of two vulnerable patients for more than a year while a patient ate cigarette butts discarded by staff.
The NMC found that Mr Battersby had failed to inform the families or the RQIA watchdog "in a timely manner" about serious incidents.
The investigation into the home was sparked after an anonymous letter was sent to a Western Health Trust manager in July 2012, alleging abuse.
