A charge nurse who several times slept while on duty at a Keighley nursing home has been struck off after being found guilty of misconduct.

A disciplinary inquiry heard that Conrad Archibald had also on occasions gone out, leaving the home without a registered nurse.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council's professional conduct committee heard that Archibald would sometimes sleep for up to three hours.

Archibald, 59, worked at Laurel Mount from January 1990 until January last year.

Kay Wilson, a part-time care assistant who worked alongside Archibald on Friday nights, told the committee: "His attitude to staff and residents was not good. He was lazy and didn't care or help us.

"After midnight he would be on the phone to family until quite late. On many occasions he would get a pillow and duvet and join two chairs together in the smoking lounge and sleep."

She described how once when Archibald had gone out she dropped a painkiller pill on the floor, and had to wait for him to return to get another because he had the keys to the cabinet.

Care assistant Suzanne Whitters said Archibald would leave the home for various reasons. One excuse he used was that he needed his insulin.

The committee found Archibald - from Bingley - guilty of sleeping on the job and leaving the home without a registered nurse, and concluded that he was therefore guilty of misconduct.

Allegations that he had failed to participate in patient care, and left a patient on a commode, were unproven.

Committee chairman Pat Dwan said: "Sleeping on duty and leaving the home without a trained nurse has the potential to put patients at risk.

"The committee has considered the case very carefully, and being found guilty of misconduct your name will be removed with immediate effect for a time not appropriate to specify.

"Leaving frail and elderly patients without care amounts to gross neglect of duty and fails to meet the standards required of a registered nurse. There is no alternative but to remove your name."