Operating department practitioner Gary Humphreys has been suspended from the HPC Register for removing the drug Co-codamol from the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt NHS Trust. Gary Humphreys had been a senior practitioner with this Trust for approximately 27 years.

A panel of the HPC Conduct and Competence Committee heard how the Trust installed CCTV cameras to establish who might have had unauthorised access to the drug cupboard in which the Co-codamol was stored. The Trust filmed the cupboard and caught the registrant on camera removing the drug without permission or authorisation.

The Panel further heard that Gary Humphreys admitted to having taken the drug without permission for his own use to alleviate pain when interviewed by the Trust.

Panel Chair Mr Paul Archer commented:

"The registrant took the drug without permission for his own consumption by having to enter two locked doors and a locked cupboard. Thus by his actions he was clearly focused on obtaining the drug at times when he was not authorised to do so"

"It is the Panel's view that no reasonable and honest person would have done these acts. The Panel has determined that the registrant's acts, on numerous occasions, were dishonest and deliberate. Moreover, he did not return the drug he took to the Trust and so permanently deprived the Trust of it."

The panel decided the most appropriate action was to suspend Gary Humphreys from the Register for a period of 12 months, with an interim suspension order imposed for 18 months on the grounds of public protection.

Gary Humphreys was neither present nor represented at the hearing.