A nurse has narrowly avoided prison for stealing prescription drugs from the ward on which she worked at Craigavon Area Hospital.
Catherine Beattie (47) from Broomhill, Portadown admitted stealing multiple boxes of Codeine between February 4 and 10 last year.
Craigavon Magistrates’ Court heard police received a report from the ward sister over the theft of medication on three occasions over the course of a week.
In the first instance, 10 boxes of Codeine, each containing 30 tablets, were taken, then several days later a further two boxes were missing.
In the final incident three boxes were taken and this was when police were alerted.
It was ascertained Beattie was the only member of staff consistently on duty across all three days when the thefts occurred.
It was also noted she took her breaks in her vehicle but nothing was found when it was searched.
Officers spoke with Beattie, who admitted she had taken the tablets and placed them inside a fleece in her locker, before taking them home.
She stated “her intention was to take them home and she needed to steal them”.
Some of the tablets were recovered in her locker but others were unaccounted for, however, a further quantity were found at her home.
She made full admissions during interview.
Defence counsel described the case as “serious and somewhat sad, not only in professional circumstances but also from longterm ill-health at the time”.
He explained Beattie did not feel she was being properly medicated for a chronic condition and “instead of going through the proper channels and insisting, she took an opportunity to take medication for the pain he was suffering … she very much put her livelihood at risk by her own foolish actions”.
It was confirmed when informed Beattie’s professional regulatory body the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) she wasn’t suspended but was placed under heavily restricted practice to “keep her away from medication”.
She has since had surgery and while still in some pain and as yet unable to work, she has undertaken a significant number of training courses in the meantime, said the defence.
He added the final decision on Beattie’s career has still to be dealt with by the regulator who is awaiting the outcome of the legal proceedings.
Addressing her directly, District Judge Michael Ranaghan, said: “A nurse stealing medication from a hospital ward is a grievous breach of trust. Given the nature of the medication you stole I think it’s unlikely there could have been any direct harm caused to patients. The NMC will no doubt take their own action in terms of your repeated theft. Your health issues are no excuse.”
He determined the custody threshold was passed, however, stopped short of making this immediate.
Beattie was handed a five month prison sentence suspended for 12 months.
