Children’s doctor guilty of misconduct after drinking lager on night shift

Dr Anna Crawford, 49, opened a can of beer and drank from it in a hospital staff room during a break between seeing patients

(PA)

A children’s doctor who drank a can of strong lager on shift before being sent home after causing an “incident” has been found guilty of professional misconduct.

Dr Anna Crawford, 49, opened a can of beer and drank from it in a hospital staff room during a break between seeing patients.

A witness saw Crawford, who has three previous convictions for drink driving, sip the beer and spotted a four-pack of lager in a rucksack.

According to Medical Practitioners Tribunal papers, Crawford, a former army medic, drank the beer while working as a locum doctor on the labour, post-natal and paediatric wards for the Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in October 2021.

The healthcare assistant, known only as Ms E, said she heard a “really distinctive” sound of a can being opened.

“But the sound I heard I knew this wasn’t a regular can of drink,” she said in a written statement to the MPTS. “I instantly got a smell of strong lager. Dr Crawford got up and left and didn’t know I was there.

“As soon as she left I went over to where her bags were to over look the area and the smell was really strong and I instantly knew this was alcohol.”

Crawford’s most recent conviction for drink driving was in September last year. She was disqualified from driving for 3 years.

Tom Orpin-Massey, counsel for the General Medical Council (GMC), said that the drinking of alcohol on shift was “deplorable” and “undoubtedly” amounted to misconduct.

Crawford, a former army medic, drank the beer while working as a locum doctor on the labour, post-natal and paediatric wards for the Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in October 2021

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“Dr Crawford’s actions potentially put patients at risk and caused an incident on the ward that she had to be dealt with and sent home,” he added.

The incident that happened during the same shift was not disclosed to the tribunal.

When asked why she consumed the beer, Crawford, who preferred night shifts so that she could walk her dog in the day, said it had been a “difficult shift” but gave no further details. She had been working her eighth night shift in row.

Crawford, who qualified as a doctor in 1999 from the University of Southampton and started her career as an army doctor, was suspended for 12 months but not struck off after she disclosed information to the tribunal that was not made public.