Tribunal disqualifies former nurse for one year

25 Feb 2020

A tribunal has disqualified a former enrolled nurse from applying for registration for one year after she misappropriated drugs from her workplace and made several false entries in the relevant drug register.

On 11 October 2016, the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) received a notification about Ms Felicia Mallett concerning misappropriation of morphine at her workplace. On 14 October 2016, the NMBA took immediate action to impose conditions on Ms Mallett’s registration which included the requirement for Ms Mallett to practise under supervision and which prohibited her access to certain medications.

Ms Mallett surrendered her registration on 31 October 2016 and has not been registered since that time.

In June 2018, the NMBA referred Ms Mallett to the State Administrative Tribunal of Western Australia (the tribunal). Ms Mallett admitted that between September and October 2016, she:

• misappropriated nine ampoules of morphine or their contents
• falsified entries in the drug register
• breached relevant medication management guidelines, and
• breached the Code of professional conduct for nurses in Australia.

On 27 August 2019, the tribunal reprimanded Ms Mallett, disqualified her from applying for registration as a nurse for a period of 12 months and ordered her to pay the NMBA’s costs.

The decision is published on the tribunal website.