A male veterinary nurse has been removed from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Register after the regulator's Disciplinary Committee resumed a hearing on 30 June 2026 and concluded that he failed to meet undertakings imposed in October 2025. The committee had originally postponed judgment for 18 months in response to charges of serious dishonesty involving prescription-only medicines, but it ruled that removal was the only appropriate sanction after the nurse gained access to a controlled-drugs cabinet in March 2026 and tried to take himself off the Register online.

What did the committee find in 2025?

The three-day hearing ran from 27 to 29 October 2025 and centred on two incidents from 2023. On 4 August 2023, a member of the public found the nurse "slumped with his eyes closed" in the driver's seat of a car and reportedly saw him using a syringe and needle to inject his hand. On 6 September 2023, colleagues found him "appeared to be unconscious" in a workplace bathroom; a syringe was recovered from beneath him when he eventually rose.

The nurse admitted the dishonest taking of lidocaine on the first date, telling the committee he removed the drug from the practice in case he cut a blood vessel while trimming a patient's claws. He denied injecting himself on that occasion, saying he was "just sleeping on his break". He later admitted injecting himself with the injectable anaesthetic Alfaxan on 6 September 2023.

The committee could not prove the lidocaine-injection charge because it was unable to confirm the substance in the syringe. All other charges were found proved on the basis of his admissions. The committee accepted that the nurse "did not represent a risk to animals going forward" and postponed judgment for 18 months, supported by testimonials from veterinary professionals and 21 members of the public and by written statements "demonstrating significant insight into his behaviour".

Why was the postponement withdrawn?

The committee reconvened on 30 June 2026 after receiving notice of three breaches:

• 21 March 2026: gained access to a controlled-drugs cabinet.
• 23 March 2026: attempted to remove himself from the Register via the RCVS online process.
• A continuing "lack of communication and engagement" with the committee.

The committee ruled that non-compliance with the undertakings defeated the original condition for postponement. It characterised the conduct as "two instances of serious dishonesty" and rejected further postponement, citing the nurse's stated wish to leave the Register. Removal took effect at the resumed hearing.

What does the case change for practices?

The ruling focuses on individual misconduct rather than new prescribing or dispensing rules, but the underlying facts touch every practice that holds Schedule 2 and Schedule 3 agents. Practice-level actions to consider:

• Single-access protocols: confirm who can open controlled-drugs cabinets and how unauthorised access events are logged, audited and escalated.
• Reconciliation cadence: shorten stock-count intervals so unexplained removals surface before they accumulate.
• Diversion training: schedule annual refreshers for all registered veterinary nurses handling controlled drugs.
• Incident response: a written protocol for finding an unresponsive colleague or a discarded syringe supports both clinical care and any later regulatory disclosure.

The RCVS Disciplinary Committee has not issued new guidance as part of this determination. The published hearing record is available through the RCVS Concerns About Veterinary Professionals page, where future hearings will also be posted.

The committee's findings close a case that began with a member-of-the-public report in August 2023 and concluded with removal in June 2026, underscoring how personal conduct outside the practice setting can drive regulatory outcomes when controlled-drugs access is in play.