A man who fooled managers he was a fully qualified nurse, ended up running a ward at Oxford’s Warneford Hospital, above, and giving drugs to the wrong patient.

Stephen Swift’s claim that he was registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) was not properly checked by bosses at the mental hospital, the General Social Care Council (GSCC) revealed yesterday, as it struck him off its social care register.

It also emerged that during its investigation someone using Swift’s email claimed to be his brother and told the council he was dead.

A private investigator later told the council he believed he had traced Swift’s father, who confirmed he was still alive.

Last night, Oxford Health, formerly the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health Trust (OBMH), which operates the Warneford, refused to give details about how Swift was able to dupe them.

The GSCC report revealed Swift joined the OBMH trust as a health care assistant working in the Warneford’s Highfield Unit in early 2008.

In the June he told bosses he was fully registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council and was just awaiting confirmation.

All nurses, midwives and specialist community public health nurses who practise in the UK must be on the NMC register.

Later that month, Swift took charge of the Highfield Adolescent Inpatient Unit at the Warneford, when another nurse was off sick. Days later he gave antipsychotic drugs to the wrong patient, a teenager.

It was later discovered the worker had never been registered with the NMC.

Last night Oxford Health said: “This incident was a no-harm drug error and Mr Swift was immediately suspended from the trust.

“A full disciplinary investigation then took place.

“The trust takes all incidents seriously and where required, ensures changes are made to procedures. The trust now ensures that references for nursing staff always include a reference from the relevant university or college.

“There are also more stringent processes in place across the trust to ensure professional registration is verified before new staff nurses are allowed to administer medication.”

It would not answer questions about the specifics of how the blunder occurred.

The GSCC hearing was originally scheduled for June 28. But the committee handling the investigation received an email from Swift’s account, claiming to have been sent by his brother Simon, informing them that the health care assistant was dead, the report said.

To date the GSCC has received no confirmation of Mr Swift’s death, and a private investigator later tracked down someone believed to be Mr Swift living at his father’s address and working in the locality.

The council said Swift’s actions had been ‘fundamentally dishonest’.

The report concluded: “As a result of that dishonesty, he had obtained a position of trust and authority which permitted him to administer drugs when not qualified so to do.

“This breach of trust placed those in his charge at serious risk of harm.

“The committee is satisfied that the registrant displayed a serious departure from the relevant professional standards outlined in the code of practice for social care workers.”

It said the committee recognised Swift had admitted his misbehaviour at an earlier opportunity, apologised and shown remorse.

But it added: “The committee determined that there is a serious risk of repetition of this behaviour and that removal is the only appropriate sanction in these circumstances.”