It seems surprising that Bradford nurse Juleth McKenzie managed to get to a position of trust where she was able to administer medication to patients and oversee procedures carried out on ill people.

Miss McKenzie made a catalogue of errors which has eventually seen her suspended by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

It appears that the very long list of misdemeanours attributable to Miss McKenzie was not borne out of malice, but due to a nurse being completely out of her depth with the job she was expected to do.

No criticism was made of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for the way they dealt with Miss McKenzie, and indeed the management should be commended for spotting the problems with her performance and acting quickly.

But it does answer the question about how stringent the recruitment process is in the NHS as a whole that a woman described as “lacking in ability” and with a tendency to get “muddled and panicked” managed to get into such a position of trust.

There must be better controls in place to stop people who simply cannot cope with the rigours of what is a very high-stress job getting through the selection process in the first place.

Although the wrong and in some cases wildly inaccurate medication was administered in this particular case, the end results of these mistakes appear not to have been as serious as they could have been.

But to stop any future tragedy occurring because staff are simply not up to it, all those who are placed in positions of responsibility in the health services must be fit for the job at hand.