Wirral nurse stole morphine from Arrowe Park Hospital to ease her stomach pains

May 4 2012 by Lorna Hughes, Liverpool Echo

A MERSEYSIDE nurse stole morphine from Arrowe Park hospital where she worked because she had stomach pains, a court heard.

Michelle McKay, 48,was filmed taking painkiller morphine sulphate at Arrowe Park Hospital, Wirral, by a hidden camera installed by suspicious security staff.

The cameras were fitted after it was noticed bottles of the drug had disappeared from a cabinet on Ward 18.

McKay, of Laurel Road, Birkenhead, admitted three charges of stealing the drug, worth £1.05 a bottle, on November 3 last year and another charge of stealing morphine sulphate between September 3 and November 2.

Magistrates in Wirral heard the nurse described herself as a “very poor patient” and decided to self-medicate rather than take time off from a job she loved.

The court was told mum-of-four McKay had worked as a carer for 19 years before training as a nurse, qualifying in 2008.

She was suspended by hospital bosses after the thefts came to light and has since been sacked from her job.