A Highland paramedic who stole drugs from his own ambulance has been struck off following a misconduct hearing.
Colin Girvan, of Kingussie, admitted stealing laughing gas, sedatives and morphine, before forging a colleague’s signature in an attempt to cover his tracks.
He was ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid community work at Inverness Sheriff Court last year.
The 46-year-old is now working as a lorry driver and lives in Cumnock in Ayrshire.
Yesterday his family said he did not wish to comment on the outcome of the four-day hearing, held in front of a Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) panel in Glasgow this week.
A HCPC spokeswoman confirmed that Girvan had been struck off and that it will be five years until he will be eligible to re-apply to become a paramedic.
Full details of the hearing and the reasons behind the decision will be published next week.
Girvan was given an interim suspension from working as a paramedic in May this year by the watchdog’s conduct and competence committee.
He faced an allegation relating to the charges he pleaded guilty to in court.
He admitted taking morphine, Diazemuls and Entenox – a form of anaesthetic “laughing gas” – from the safe in his vehicle and an ambulance base while living and working in Kingussie between October 29 and December 6, 2013.
The HCPC further alleged that between November 5, 2012 and December 2, 2013 he falsely claimed to have administered morphine sulphate to patients on approximately 20 occasions.
It was claimed that he incorrectly registered the use of morphine in the ambulance’s records to cover vials he had taken, and then falsified the signatures of three colleagues approximately 26 times.
He was also alleged to have self-administered drugs in front of patients in the back of an ambulance between December 5 and 6.
Last year the court heard that on at least one occasion the 45-year-old appeared to have taken painkillers when he was on duty and was unsteady on his feet.
A colleague became suspicious when Girvan arrived at his house and asked for a syringe to give medicine to his dog.
When the technician checked the ambulance, he found drugs were missing and a day later he reported his colleague after finding canisters of painkilling gas in his personal bag.
Girvan, who had a 25-year career in the ambulance service, was spared a prison term despite Sheriff Margaret Neilson describing his crimes as “a gross breach of trust”.
Solicitor Willie Young said Girvan “chose to self-medicate” after the break-up of his six-year marriage in an attempt to manage depression and social isolation.