THE case of two senior Kent nurses suspended for 13 weeks and then exonerated at a disciplinary hearing has led to urgent calls for a shake-up of disciplinary procedures.

Unison, the union which represents nurses, says the case has raised serious concerns at a time when there is a dire shortfall in the UK of 20,000 nurses and hospitals are so short-staffed that dying patients are left on trolleys in corridors.

Mary Maguire, spokeswoman for Unison, said: "We accept that hospitals have to investigate allegations in the interests of the patients. But the procedure should be speeded up dramatically. It should not be allowed to drag on for this length of time, ruining the careers of these senior professionals who after such an experience will be lost to the profession forever.

"Among nursing students, the drop-out rate is a third, much higher than for other students. If we are trying to attract people into the profession, it is off-putting to them to know that they could be suspended for this amount of time."

The nurses, one a sister with 26 years's experience, work for Thames Gateway Trust in a ward for highly dependent, elderly patients in A Block at Medway Maritime Hospital, Gillingham. They cannot be named for professional reasons. On May 31 they were suspended on full pay after a nursing auxiliary accused them of forcing an elderly patient to take the tranquilliser Diazepam.

The drug was prescribed by a doctor after the patient, admitted with chest pains and diagnosed with suspected late-onset schizophrenia, became disruptive, threatening to stab the sister and frightening other patients.

An inquiry was launched by the trust and both nurses were threatened with prosecution for assault. The nurses were exonerated at a disciplinary hearing on Monday. After hearing evidence from witnesses, including medical staff at the scene, it was ruled that there was no case to answer.

Simon Morgan, spokesman for Thames Gateway Trust said: "Suspensions are a neutral matter and our policy is to carry out a thorough investigation within a six-week period. However, because of the number of people that had to be interviewed and the complexity of this issue, it has taken longer than we had anticipated. We did cover the shifts of those two members of staff who were suspended so that services to patients were not affected."

He added that a review of staffing levels was being undertaken: "It is recognised that there is a shortage of nurses nationally but we as a trust are addressing this issue."