A BORED nurse murdered a frail old patient after telling a colleague: "I wish she would hurry up and die to give me something to do," a court heard.

Alison Firth, 36, was allegedly fed up after being told of a staff shake-up at St Aidan's Nursing Home, in Gateshead, on May 9, last year.

Just two days later the registered nurse gave Alice Grant, 84, a massive overdose of sedative that left her gasping for breath and dead within hours, it is claimed.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how Mrs Grant was on the verge of death after suffering from strokes and a chest infection.

She could not walk or talk and needed to be constantly turned over in bed to avoid bed sores.

But prosecutor John Milford QC told the court how Ms Firth was a "lazy" nurse who "did not practise to a high standard".

Ms Firth, of Huntingdon Close, Kingston Park, Newcastle, denies murder on May 12 last year.

Mr Milford said: "She was a nurse who knew she had killed the patient deliberately and got caught out."

The court heard how Ms Firth, who had access to all medication at the home, was seen by nursing home cleaner Julie Palmer feeding Mrs Grant a brown substance through a syringe.

The cleaner asked Ms Firth if Mrs Grant needed an extra pillow. She allegedly replied: "No need for that, she's going to die anyway."

Senior care assistant Joan Fergie-Dodds was summoned and she noticed the pungent smell of Heminevrin, a sedative found to be the prime cause of Mrs Grant's death.

"She observed a carton of Ensure food supplement in a plastic beaker next to what was a plastic syringe on the chest of drawers and a brown medicine bottle," said Mr Milford.

He said that Mrs Grant had regurgitated a quantity of Ensure, most likely laced with eminevrin.

Ms Firth later told police: "I don't think she needed any help dying, she was dying."

Her defence team will claim she had diminished responsibility and was suffering a personality disorder at the time of the killing.

The trial continues.