A FORMER nurse who hid a shoplifting conviction and stole drugs from the hospital where she worked has been struck off.

Melissa Smith was working at the Royal Bolton Hospital when her dishonesty came to light.

She was suspended by the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, and was sacked in September 2013, following a disciplinary hearing.

The trust upheld allegations against her that she had stolen nearly 40 diazepam tablets in March of the same year.

Nursing watchdog, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, had also received information from Greater Manchester Police.

The force revealed that, in February 2013, Smith went into a Tesco store on Longcause Way, Farnworth, Bolton.

She took make-up and jewellery worth £40 without paying and admitted theft at Bolton Magistrates Court. She was handed a 12-month conditional discharge.

But she failed to tell her employers at the trust, for which she had worked for 10 years, or the NMC about the conviction.

However, during the NMC disciplinary process, Smith admitted all of the allegations against her.

She had worked at Farnworth Care Home for three months after being fired, but the NMC had no further information about her employment status since then.

Announcing its decision following a hearing in London, the NMC panel's chair, Stuart Gray, said a striking-off order was likely to have a 'significant impact' on Miss Smith.

However, patient safety and maintaining public confidence in the nursing profession was 'more important' than the interests of one person.

He added: "The panel considered Miss Smith's actions, in failing to disclose her conviction to the trust and the NMC, and her actions in stealing drugs from the trust, to demonstrate a pattern of dishonesty.

"She sought to conceal her actions and, throughout her disciplinary interview, denied stealing any drugs.

"We considered Miss Smith's actions in taking drugs from the trust to have had the potential to deprive patients of medication and therefore there was a potential risk of harm to those patients.

"Nurses occupy a position of privilege and trust in society and are expected at all times to be professional and to maintain professional boundaries.

"To justify that trust, nurses must be honest and open and act with integrity.

"They must make sure that their conduct at all times justifies both their patients' and the public's trust in the profession."

Mr Gray said Miss Smith's actions amounted to a 'clear breach of trust'.

The panel concluded that striking her name from the register was the only sanction which would 'protect patients and maintain public confidence in the nursing profession'.

He added: "A striking-off order in this case sends out a clear message as to the standards expected of a registered nurse."