A blundering nurse was cautioned for handing out a cocktail of painkillers putting a patient at risk of an epileptic fit.

Ernesto King, 61, also gave a terminally ill patient extra morphine which the patient had not been prescribed.

Despite being told he should stop working with vulnerable adults King, of Haywards Heath, continued working at a private care home claiming he needed to send cash home to his relatives.

The registered nurse admitted misconduct before the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and received a caution that will remain on his record for three years.

The panel was told the first incident happened at Russettings Care Home in Mill Lane, Balcombe, near Haywards Heath, where King was employed from 2002 to 2004.

In September 2004, King was responsible for the care of a terminally ill woman who was being given powerful diamorphine for pain relief through a syringe drip.

On September 4, King was taught how to change her drip as he took over her care for the night shift.

Teresa Murphy, speaking for the NMC, said: "Mr King was advised that if Patient B's pain did not subside he would have to contact the GP.

"At the changeover, Patient B was agitated that the dose might not be enough."

A senior nurse later found an entry in the care home's record of controlled drugs that showed King had given Patient B an extra 5mg tablet of morphine sulphate but there was no mention of it in Patient B's records, the panel was told.

Later that month, on September 20 and 21, King was caring for another elderly patient at Russettings who had just returned from having a knee operation.

The patient, referred to as Resident C, had a history of epilepsy and on September 17 a senior nurse ordered that she should no longer be given paracetamol and was prescribed a co-codamol alternative.

But on September 20, and twice on the morning of September 21, King gave the patient both paracetamol and co-codamol.

Ms Murphy said that on the evening of September 21 nurses were called to Resident C's room.

She said: "There were concerns about an epileptic fit. There appeared to be two paracetamol and two co-codamol tablets on the table."

King was reported to the Commission for Social Care Inspection and later referred to the Protection of Vulnerable Adults Scheme (Pova).

Both organisations placed him on staff lists preventing him from working with vulnerable adults and children.

He was dismissed from the home later that month.

Despite being sent a letter in June 2005 about being placed on the provisional Protection of Children Act (Poca) and Pova lists, King began working as normal in another care home.

Defence counsel Nadia Miszczanyn said: "He had never heard of Pova and Poca before he received the letter and he didn't grasp that he should inform his employers he was listed."

King had earlier claimed he had been given extra work to do at Russettings Care Home because when he arrived he had found irregularities with agency staff time sheets.

This led to the previous matron resigning and he said he felt victimised from then on.

King, who has since retired and is living on his nursing pension, claims he is being forced to sell his house and his family is in financial distress.

Panel chairwoman Jillian Alderwick said: "The panel views the misconduct in the case as serious as it was not confined to a single event.

"We take into account the time pressures under which the registrant was operating at the time."