SYDNEY —

Four mental health nurses have been deregistered after an indigenous patient with a history of self-harm killed himself on their night shift at a large Sydney hospital.

Staff were required to take observations every 30 minutes, but a coroner found the patient could have been dead from between two and eight hours before he was found at 7.30 am on May 27, 2017.

The Health Care Complaints Commission took disciplinary action against the five nurses on duty that night, contending they failed to provide proper observations and make appropriate records for the patient in the acute mental health unit.

The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Tuesday found four guilty of professional misconduct but dismissed the case against the fifth nurse, Phoebe CHIKUKU.

Emma Kate BROWN was deregistered for two years, Mehul Mukundray DUDHELA and Jill Louise WATKINS for 18 months, and Florence EGBUFOR for 12 months.

Read more of AAP’s Margaret Scheikowski story:

Nurses deregistered after patient death

This is a disgrace.  It’s a task for the Department of Public Prosecutions.  Hospitals need to bring in the Army and instil discipline in nurses who cannot do their basic job properly.  Hospitals need Matron to wield the heavy hand.  Matrons once ruled hospitals, now no one does, except spin doctors.  This is the result.