Paramedic inhaled laughing gas

A paramedic has been struck off for inhaling laughing gas in the back of an ambulance while on duty, the Health Professions Council (HPC) has confirmed.

Richard Sanders, who was based in Llantwit Major with the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust, was discovered by colleagues lying on a stretcher self-administering Entonox.

A panel of the HPC Conduct and Competence Committee, sitting in Cardiff, heard that on March 27, 2006, Mr Sanders started his shift at 7pm and was scheduled to finish at 7am the following day.

At about midnight during that shift, fellow paramedics found Mr Sanders in the back of the ambulance inhaling the gas.

When asked what he was doing, Mr Sanders was slow to respond and had a staggering walk and slurred speech.

Panel chairman Derek Adrian-Harris, said: "This is a very serious breach. By rendering himself incapable during shift, Mr Sanders put patient safety at risk".

The panel concluded that Mr Sanders' fitness to practice was impaired as a consequence of this misconduct, and decided to strike him off the HPC Register.

A Council spokesman said Mr Sanders, who did not attend the hearing, was struck off the HPC Register for administering Entonox to himself, for his own purposes.

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