A Gateshead nurse who called a resident a "dirty animal" at a Newcastle nursing home was removed from the nursing Register yesterday.

Jean Turnbull appeared at a professional conduct committee hearing of the UK Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting.

Turnbull was a bank nurse at Brampton Court Nursing Home in Walker, Newcastle, said David Glendinning, for the council.

She faced allegations of misconduct, all of which related to her behaviour towards residents between October 1998 and October 1999.

She is alleged to have verbally abused residents, calling one old man "a pain" and referring to another as a "dirty animal".

Mrs Turnbull admitted to the committee that her abusive language amounted to misconduct.

Chairman Jacqueline Carol Mahony said: "You failed to safeguard and promote the interests of patients in your care."

In mitigation, Turnbull said she had been on anti-depressants. "Abuse it wasn't meant to be, I wouldn't hurt anybody for the world,"she said.

The committee removed Turnbull's name from the register with immediate effect.