Prison nurse censured for supplying Tramadol to corrections officer: Diana Hayward, RN

Kai Tiaki: Nursing New Zealand, June, 2008

While employed at a prison, registered nurse Diana Hayward supplied approximately 16 Tramadol tablets without prescription to a corrections officer and/or to his landlady/wife. The Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, in a decision in May last year, found Hayward guilty of professional misconduct.

The Tramadol tablets were controlled opiate-based drugs that would have been very tradable in a prison. In its decision, the Tribunal said nurses were trained to administer drugs in a careful, cautious and appropriately documented way, and such training was an essential part of their ethics and training. Handing over medication without prescription to another person, especially when that medicine is of a high dosage and known to be tradable, was extremely misguided and potentially very dangerous behaviour.

The Tribunal censured Hayward and fined her $1000. It also ordered she pay 20 percent of the costs of the inquiry and prosecution by the Professional Conduct Committee and the hearing by the Tribunal. It directed that its decision be published in Kai Tiaki Nursing New Zealand and on the Tribunal's website.