Nurse "intended to give back" morphine stolen from Broom care home

Tracy Buck swiped the powerful painkiller while on duty at the Broom Lane Care Home in Rotherham on January 29 last year.

Buck admitted stealing the morphine at Rotherham Magistrates’ Court in April 2014 but she insisted she intended to return it.

She told the Nursing and Midwifery Council in central London: “I didn’t intend to keep it, I know it wasn't mine to take but I did intend to return it.”

Claire Robinson, for the NMC, told the panel: “The first of the charges dates back to when she was working as deputy manager of the care home.

“Her role was to run the nursing unit of the home and one of her duties was to dispense medication once a resident had passed away.

“On January 29, 2014, she was working with a nursing care assistant dispensing controlled drugs.

“There were several bottles of liquid morphine which were being poured into a jug to be dispensed with but one was left behind which Ms Buck took home and, the NMC would say, stole.”

Buck was reported to the NMC by the assistant she was working with and suspended on February 4.

Police were also informed and Buck was interviewed and charged with theft.

She was later dismissed by the Broom home.

The NMC allege that months later Buck gave the impression she was still a practising nurse at an NHS funding appeal hearing for a patient, despite being suspended at the time due to the ongoing investigation into the morphine incident.

Ms Robinson continued: “She represented herself as a mental health nurse by practice and the impression she was there in her capacity as a mental health nurse.

“The NMC also say she signed the assessment form for the appeal as a mental health nurse despite being suspended.

“She was holding herself out as a nurse and this was dishonest as she was suspended and intended to create a false impression that she was entitled to practice.”

Buck, who is representing herself at the hearing, denies the allegations.

The hearing continues.