A MEDIC has been struck off for stealing drugs from the hospital where he worked.
Alan Sutheran worked as an operating department practitioner at the University Hospital of Hartlepool when he took injectable pain killing drugs for his own use, a health professional body heard.
Sutheran, who worked at the hospital from November 19
90, admitted taking the drug Tramadol from hospital stocks between January and May 2005 and that he used it to alleviate his chronic back pain.
He stated that he had never self-administered it while carrying out his duties and that he never compromised patient safety.
The case was heard by the Health Professions Council (HPC), which initially imposed a 12-month work ban, but extended it by a further six months.
But now, in a newly published decision, the HPC has struck him off after a review of the case ruled information heard previously about Sutheran was "quite insufficient" to decide he was safe to resume practice and as a result ordered his striking off.
Panel chairman Derek Adrian-Harris said a doctor's letter stated Sutheran "no longer takes strong painkillers and completed a withdrawal and reducing programme regarding all medication dependence".
However, Mr Adrian-Harris said the panel would expect detail of the steps taken by Sutheran including dates, people involved and the period of time.
"The conclusion reached by the panel is that this is a very serious case where compelling reasons would be necessary to permit a practitioner to return to practice," he said.
Sutheran was employed by North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust based at the University Hospital, Hartlepool, from November 2, 1990, until his dismissal for the matters relating to this allegation, the committee heard.
The hearing had been told that Sutheran was known to suffer from back pain and that theatre staff began to notice that the injectable analgesic drug Tramadol was being over-ordered when it was not being used to the same level for patients.
When first asked about it, Sutheran denied any drug removal or drug taking, but subsequently admitted what he had been doing in a written statement to his manager on June 13, 2005.
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