Drug addict nurse Vianney Allison swapped patients’ painkillers for aspirin

Patients at Peninsula Private Hospital have been denied proper pain relief after a nurse was caught stealing their painkillers and replacing them with aspirin.

A drug addict nurse was found to be stealing painkillers and replacing them with aspirin at Peninsula Private Hospital. Picture: Supplied

An untold number of patients at Peninsula Private Hospital may have been denied proper pain relief after a drug addict nurse was found to be stealing painkillers and replacing them with aspirin.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal last week sanctioned former nurse Vianney Allison for secretly swapping four patients’ opioid medication with aspirin over two night shifts in January 2020.

But tribunal documents show concerns about her behaviour – including her “dealings” with the same medication – and patients’ pain management dated back to June 2019.

Allison admitted to VCAT that she had deprived four patients of “basic care” when she stole their Endone while suffering withdrawals from a codeine addiction of “about 10 years”.

The tribunal found she worked under the influence of the Endone, and said she put patients in the emergency department “at a real risk of harm … including a risk she would be unable to undertake emergency treatment, such as resuscitation”.

Tribunal Acting deputy president Anna Dea and tribunal members Mary Archibald and Marietta Bylhouwer reprimanded Allison — who had already surrendered her nursing registration — and banned her from reapplying for it for six months.

Tribunal documents reveal the “extremely distressing” position she put her patients in by lying on their charts that they had been given their Endone.

They also show one nurse recalled patients in June 2019 whose pain relief needs “escalated more severely than expected”, including one who “suddenly required intravenous narcotics”.

The nurse was secretly swapping patients’ opioid medication with aspirin. Picture: iStock

“That nurse was unable to provide specific details and so that matter was not investigated at that time,” they said.

They also cited internal hospital documents which reveal Allison was spoken to over reports she was “drowsy”, had “slurred speech” and had slept in a cubicle during a break.

The tribunal did not assess these prior reports, as the Nursing and Midwifery Board did not bring these allegations to VCAT.

Allison told investigators and the Tribunal she “deeply” regretted her actions but was thankful she was caught and as was now sober, healthy and travelling full-time with her husband.

She also admitted that she was aware aspirin would have had “significantly less effect” on her patient’s pain.

The Tribunal said, anecdotally, patients can have their accounts “disregarded” or put down to “excessive complaining or drug seeking behaviour” when they complain of pain.

“The patients affected may well have been horrified to find (if they ever did) that the pain medication had not been dispensed as prescribed because their nurse had taken it for herself,” the tribunal members said in their written findings.

The tribunal did not hear evidence from Allison’s patients, meaning they did not know the “degree to which they suffered”.

A Peninsula Private Hospital spokeswoman did not respond to questions about Allison’s previous patients.

“However, we want to assure the community that the provision of safe, high quality and effective care for our patients, along with the wellbeing of health care workers are our key priorities at Peninsula Private Hospital,” she said.

Allison is banned from applying for nursing registration for six months.

She has not worked since February 2020, when she surrendered her nursing registration.