A nurse who stole more than £100,000 from three elderly and vulnerable hospital patients has been struck off. Kelvin Ramasta, who worked at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, used the money to gamble and buy luxury items.
Now he has been struck off the nursing register by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). That decision came despite him insisting he was a ‘good nurse’ who deserved a second chance.
The decision to strike him off comes after he was jailed at Peterborough Crown Court for four years and six months in April 2024 after pleading guilty to three counts of theft. Ramasta admitted stealing £102,000 belonging to Person A, £203.29 from Person B and £1,000 belonging to Person C, a report from the fitness to practise committee panel revealed.
The thefts took place in 2021 and 2022. They were from three different patients under his care who were elderly and vulnerable, the report added.
Ramasta’s bank referred a case to the police due to suspicious activity, after a total of £101,000 had been transferred into his account between November 9, 2021 to April 22 2022, normally in increments of £1,000, according to the panel.
These transfers were being made from a bank account linked to Person A, who had dementia and stayed at the hospital in November 2021 and January 2022. In April 2022, Person C’s husband received a call from their bank concerning suspicious activity on their account and on Person C’s debit card. Then their family visited the hospital and found that money and Person C’s bank card was missing, the report said.
Days later, Person C’s husband was notified by the bank that it had received a cheque for £1,000 to be removed from their account, which was made payable to Ramasta, the report added. The nurse was suspended by the hospital trust in April 2022 and dismissed in January 2023, according to the panel.
The panel noted remarks from the judge on sentencing. They had said Ramasta stole “all you could” and the money was used to “subsidise your life, gambling, luxury items for food and travel”.
In a regulatory concerns response form in June 2024, Ramasta admitted to the convictions but stated that he had only admitted the charges to get a lesser sentence, then four months later in a case management form said: “I was just blinded by the money and I’m sorry,” the panel said.
In a case management form completed by Ramasta in October last year, he said: “I’ve made mistake but I know I’m a good nurse and have the skills of an excellent nurse. I help a lot of patients by providing quality care during Covid and post-Covid times.
“I was just blinded by the money and I’m sorry. I genuinely feel sorry for all the family I’ve mistaken with (sic).
“Now I’m trying to start again and build a new path, to have a fresh start and provide a better future for my kids.” The panel said it believed there was “a high risk of repetition as Mr Ramasta stole from three different patients on numerous different occasions in a premeditated and sophisticated manner”.
They decided to make a striking-off order in Ramasta’s case. As the striking-off order cannot take effect until the end of the 28-day appeal period, the panel imposed an interim suspension order for a period of 18 months to cover any potential period of appeal.