The nurse would leave the drugs in the patient ’ s letterbox .

ANTONY SCHOLEFIELD A NURSE who was delegated by a GP to manage a patient ’ s zolpidem has been censured after leaving the drugs in a letterbox or a bag outside the patient ’ s apartment .

Sydney nurse David Cain was working under the Mental Health Nurse Incentive Plan , which allows practices to hire nurses on payments of up to $ 240 a session .

As part of the arrangement

, the patient ’ s GP would prescribe 10mg zolpidem , and Mr Cain would store the drugs and dispense them to the patient when necessary .

The patient had a history of zolpidem misuse , borderline personality disorder , posttraumatic stress disorder and depression . However , on at least 60 occasions , Mr Cain dispensed the drug without actually seeing the patient .

The NSW Civil and

Administrative Tribunal heard that he would leave the drugs in various insecure locations , such as a letterbox or a bag outside the patient ’ s apartment .

“ Self-evidently , by failing to consult face-to-face , Mr Cain was unable to properly assess [ the patient ’ s ] mental state ,” the tribunal said .

The nurse also failed to keep the GP updated regularly , even when the patient

took a whole box of zolpidem in one day .

In 2011 , the patient died of multidrug toxicity , aged 35 .

The GP , whose identity has been suppressed , told the tribunal Mr Cain was supposed to limit the patient to one tablet every 24 hours , four a week and 14 a month .

The NSW Health Care Complaints Commission alleged that he ignored the GP ’ s instructions and

handed over an average of six tablets a week .

“ In essence , the commission alleges that Mr Cain was on a frolic of his own and was providing Stilnox in an unauthorised fashion ,” the tribunal said .

But the tribunal dismissed this part of the complaint .

It found Mr Cain guilty of professional misconduct , but has not yet decided on a penalty .

from page 1 in a relatively short time also demonstrates that such a service in the interests of consumers is not brain surgery ,” said CEO Leanne Wells .

“ When we consider all that surgeons and other specialists achieve these days , their failure to provide a simple platform for consumers to view and compare surgeons ’ fees — particularly at a time of often very high costs — does them no credit .”

Dr Zhu said more than 1000 doctors and patients had signed up to SeekMedi as a result of publicity in Australia Doctor , with dozens of specialists also saying they wanted their details and their fees listed .

He stressed the website was free to use and he did not plan to make money from the venture , although he has received donations from fellow doctors to cover his costs .

See : www . seekmedi . com

from page 1 for Immunisation Research

and Surveillance in Sydney , stressed that despite type b disease being rare , unimmunised or incompletely immunised children were still at risk . “ It is consigned to the history books , but this is more relevant to hospital practice than general practice , where it was always rare . Although GPs do need to distinguish between epiglottitis and croup ,” he said .

However , the study had allayed concerns that Hib vaccination would cause a serotype shift and increase in serious infections other non-B strains of H . influenzae , he said . “ There ’ s no evidence of ‘ serotype replacement ’ with other types filling a niche left by type b disappearing ,” Professor McIntyre said . Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 2017 ; online .