NHS paediatrician caught injecting stolen drugs from hospital while on duty to ‘give her energy’

An NHS doctor was almost struck off the medical register after stealing drugs and other medical equipment from work to ‘give her energy’ while on duty.

Dr Suzy Ling told investigators she had simply taken needles and syringes from her ward at Salisbury District Hospital in Wiltshire to clean her aquarium at home.

But the paediatrician had in fact been injecting herself with an unnamed drug while on duty to ‘give her energy’ and ‘focus’ during her shifts.

Dr Ling has now been handed a 12-month suspension after a disciplinary hearing found her guilty of misconduct.

A Medical Practitioners Tribunal, heard that Dr Ling, who worked on the children’s ward at the hospital, was using an unnamed drug to help her get through work.

The doctor was raised suspicions when a paediatric registrar noticed she had strange purple bruises on her hand one morning – and later that day the registrar found a brown paper bag with used cannulas and ‘sharps’ in her coat pocket.

The registrar told the tribunal that Dr Ling had been ‘acting strangely’ that day and ‘seemed lethargic’ and kept ‘rubbing her face’.

Another doctor told the tribunal that ‘she was very pale and waxy in appearance’ and her hand looked ‘odd’ as it was purple and swollen.

Initially when confronted Dr Ling claimed her tired appearance was down to a lack of fluids saying she ‘used to drink too much Diet Irn Bru’ at work.

By trying to cut down her intake of the sugary drink she had ended up not drinking enough water as a replacement.

She then also tried to claim she had only stolen the needles to help clean her fish tank.

In a bizarre statement given to the hospital and read out to the tribunal, she said: ‘On one occasion, after discussing it with the nurses on shift, I took a couple of the small orange, sharp needles, and some small syringes.

‘I took these home to use in my marine fish tank, as I needed to draw up, and inject a type of pest anemone.’

Dr Ling was suspended by the hospital in 2017 and police searched her house and questioned her – they eventually dropped the case.

However, when Dr Ling was interviewed by the General Medical Council (GMC) in 2019 she admitted ‘self-injecting’ to keep her focused during her work.

She said: ‘I made a huge error. I took [unnamed drug], needles, syringes and cannulas, from the paediatric ward, of Salisbury District Hospital.

‘I self injected [the unnamed drug], on more than one occasion, usually whilst working.

‘I did this because it gave me the energy boost, and focus, that helped me cope with long, and variable hours. I know this was wrong, and I accept that it is my own, and no one else’ fault.’

Tribunal chair Mr Lee Davies said: ‘This was a borderline case between suspension and erasure…

‘Whilst there is no evidence that any patients were harmed, her actions compounded the gravity of her misconduct as she demonstrated a disregard for patient safety by self-injecting [unnamed drug] on multiple occasions whilst on duty.’

Ultimately, the tribunal concluded that a 12-month period of suspension would allow her ‘the necessary time on her journey to demonstrate she is taking positive steps to remediation’.