A veterinary nurse has been struck off for repeatedly stealing drugs meant for dogs and almost falling asleep on a spaniel during surgery.
Dayna Johnson took drugs she stole from four separate vets she worked at within the space of five years.
During this period, the Bristol-based veterinary nurse made a series of excuses for her behaviour whilst on drugs, including being “jet-lagged”, her birthday being the night before, and nerves from starting a new job.
A disciplinary committee has ruled her guilty of misconduct, unfit to practice and struck her off the veterinary nurses register.
Her behaviour was described as “sustained and repeated” by the committee, with one offence seeing her unable to write notes properly or stay awake during a surgery.
Ms Johnson began working at Yatton Vets in Bristol in September 2023, and almost fell asleep on a dog on the operating table on her first official day.
She had asked her colleagues about the drugs procedure during her trial shift the day before and stolen methadone.
During her first official shift, she stole two boxes of gabapentin, took drugs in a surgical prep room and put an empty bottle of buprenorphine in the bin.
As she assisted with a dental surgery on a spaniel, she appeared unwell and was asked by a colleague if she was okay.
She insisted she was fine but “tired” and “had not got much sleep the night before, as she had been nervous about starting the job”.
However, she then went on to “all asleep standing up” and wrote “illegible” notes during the surgery as her “pen was not touching the paper”. Her condition deteriorated until she “was almost leaning on the spaniel, asleep”.
Following the incident, she told her colleagues “she had not slept well and that it had been her birthday the night before”.
On 5 December 2023 Ms Johnson pleaded guilty to theft by employee at North Somerset Magistrates’ Court for stealing the buprenorphine and was also fined.
Her job offer was rescinded, but just one month later she was found taking a syringe of buprenorphine from the Bristol PDSA Pet Hospital which she had begun working at.
She lied to her colleagues about taking the drug, and said another surgeon had authorised her to give it to a spaniel.
The incidents were not the first time Ms Johnson had been caught taking drugs stolen from her workplace.
In December 2022, she stole 5ml of methadone while prepping medication for animals at Vets4Pets.
She was seen coming out of the toilets swaying, slurring her words, squinting at lights, putting her face onto her arms on the desk in front of her, and lifting her head up then “face planting” it back onto the desk.
But she denied taking drugs and told colleagues she had “just got back from a holiday” and was “simply jet-lagged and tired”.
An ambulance was called and a syringe was later found in her pocket. Her employer reported the theft to the police and she was given a conditional caution by police in relation to the theft, under the condition she attend a drug awareness course by October 2023.
While the investigation was ongoing, she was working at Langford Small Animal Hospital in Bristol when in August 2023, a syringe of methadone for a cocker spaniel's joint surgery went missing.
A colleague noticed Ms Johnson was “disinhibited and unconnected from the room” and “disclosing inappropriate personal details in the operating theatre to others”.
A fellow nurse noticed Ms Johnson deliberately knocking a syringe labelled methadone as to the floor and picking it up again, prompting her colleague to replace the dose as it was now “slightly bubbly”.
It was later realised that Ms Johnson had taken the syringe of methadone which was intended as a rescue dose, and injected herself with it instead.
She then replaced the syringe in the theatre, filled with another unknown liquid other than the methadone.
Barring her from practice, The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons said: “The College submits that the Respondent has directly breached three of the most fundamental tenets of the profession: the promotion of animal welfare, the responsible use of drugs and behaving with honesty and integrity.
“It is also submitted that she breached the trust of her employer and risked placing her colleagues under suspicion regarding dishonestly taking the drugs.
“The College submitted it was significant that the conduct was sustained and repeated: it took place at four different practices over the period of approximately one year, it involved three different controlled drugs and it took place on five separate occasions.”
