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A remorseful ICU nurse who stole medications including morphine, ketamine and fentanyl for personal use has learned her fate, after vowing to leave the profession forever.
Melbourne nurse Abby Beecroft faced the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on May 26.
She was found to have engaged in professional misconduct, according to the VCAT decision, and was disqualified from applying for registration and barred from seeking reinstatement for 18 months.
Beecroft, who began working at The Alfred hospital in 2012, illicitly obtained and stockpiled more than 1,000 doses of restricted medicines, which she would self-administer at home.
In January 2024, Beecroft confessed to conduct spanning at least eight months to The Alfred's management before immediately resigning.
She surrendered her nursing registration in May 2024.
The decision states that an internal investigation revealed Beecroft had illicitly withdrawn the medications on 507 occasions from January 2023 until two weeks prior to her resignation.
The full list of medications Beecroft took without authorisation included Schedule 4, 8 and 11 drugs, such as fentanyl, morphine, ketamine, diazepam, midazolam, oxycodone, tapentadol and temazepam.
An ICU nurse from The Alfred (pictured) who stole medications including morphine and ketamine for personal use has learned her fate, after vowing to leave the profession forever
To obtain the highly restricted medications, Ms Beecroft used the names of 222 patients to withdraw the doses from the ward's automated medicine cabinet.
The fact that she did not require the authorisation of a second nurse to sign out and check scheduled medication made her conduct more difficult to detect.
During an interview with investigators, Beecroft said it was 'incredibly easy' to obtain the medications by doubling the dosages prescribed to patients in her care who were receiving infusions.
Beecroft maintained that she only ever used the drugs at home outside of work hours, and denied ever being drug-affected at work.
However, she admitted to experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms which meant she was eventually dispensing morphine for herself on 'every other shift', according to the VCAT decision.
A joint statement signed by both Beecroft and the Nursing and Midwifery Board invited the tribunal to make findings of professional misconduct by Beecroft and to impose disciplinary action.
A judgement published last week found Beecroft's conduct was a 'serious breach' of her authority as a nurse, and constituted a 'wholesale abandonment' of her professional standards.
It was further accepted that Beecroft had abused the 'privileged position which nurses enjoy in respect of scheduled medication[s]'.
Beecroft, who began working at The Alfred hospital in 2012, illicitly obtained and stockpiled more than 1,000 doses of restricted medicines, which she would self-administer at home. (Above: general view of The Alfred's ICU)
To obtain the highly restricted medications, Ms Beecroft used the names of 222 patients to withdraw the doses from the ward's automated medicine cabinet. (Above: a stock image of an automated pharmacy at a hospital)
In handing down a penalty to Beecroft, VCAT emphasised that 'the sheer volume' of medication misappropriated over an extensive period of time meant there was a need for general deterrence.
However, the tribunal also noted the 'extensive remorse' shown by Beecroft and her undiagnosed ADHD at the time.
She was so filled with remorse that she repeatedly vowed to leave nursing forever; however, in its final judgement, VCAT urged her to consider a return to the profession in the future because she 'impressed us as someone who has much to contribute'.
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