Nurse comes to work drunk, drives away and crashes

The man had a breath alcohol reading of 801mcg of alcohol per litre of breath. Photo / Thinkstock

A nurse turned up to work drunk, took a hospital van without permission and crashed, a Herald on Sunday investigation has revealed.

The incident is one of more than 350 cases found in documents detailing the conduct of medical professionals at the country's 20 district health boards in the past six years.

According to correspondence released under the Official Information Act, the man, whose name and identifying features have been redacted, resigned shortly after the incident on February 6 last year.

"This is one of the most serious incidents that I have encountered," read notes from a February 17 meeting, which concluded the man had to be sacked.

"Being under the influence is serious but in this case it is compounded by unauthorised use of a vehicle and leaving the unit without providing ... cover, which placed colleagues and clients at risk."

An email from the Capital & Coast DHB dated February 13 last year expressed concern other staff had tried to cover up for the man. In explanation, the man said he had been drinking at a family barbecue earlier that day but he "felt fine" before starting his shift at 2.30pm.

He said that while at work he received an "urgent" phone call from his son who had returned home from the beach to find no one there.

Concerned the boy would be home alone, the man told colleagues he needed to "pop out" and took a work van without permission.

After dropping his son off with a neighbour, he was involved in a crash with another vehicle.

The man had a breath alcohol reading of 801 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The limit for drivers aged over 20 at the time was 400mcgs and has since been lowered to 250mcgs.

DHB investigators said the man's reading begged the question what state he had been in when he arrived at work five hours earlier.

The man, who was a long-serving senior nurse, conceded he had made "poor and impulsive judgment calls".