Convicted nurse suspended for three months

18 Mar 2024

A tribunal has suspended a nurse's registration for three months after they were convicted of conspiring with another to supply less than a commercial quantity of a dangerous drug.

Around May 2021, the nurse purchased $2,500 worth of methamphetamines which they split into two equal portions and sent half to their personal PO Box for collection by a co-offender in Alice Springs. The drugs were detected at the Post Office and after investigation, the nurse was charged. The nurse pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to conspiring with another to supply less than a commercial quantity of methamphetamine and was sentenced to a suspended period of imprisonment.

Following the conviction, the Northern Territory Police submitted a notification to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (Board). Following an investigation, the Board referred the nurse to the Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal (the tribunal).

The tribunal found that the nurse had engaged in a way that constitutes professional misconduct and ordered that the practitioner:

• be reprimanded,
• have their registration suspended for three months,
• be subject to conditions after the period of suspension which required the practitioner not to be sole practicitioner on site and did not allow the practitioner to work as a solo practitioner, and
• pay the Board’s costs of the proceedings as agreed or if not agreed to be determined by the tribunal.

The tribunal considered the nurse’s expeditious resolution of the referral when making their determination.