Health and Care Professions Council determination — substantive hearing
HCPTS panel suspends Emma Jones over misuse of anaesthetic gases
An HCPTS panel suspended operating department practitioner Emma Jones for 12 months after finding she inhaled and misused anaesthetic gases at work on two occasions.
MedicWatch editorial · Published 9 April 2024 · Updated 23 September 2026
Suspension (suspended from practice) — 1 year
Data last checked: 23 September 2026Report a correction
What does “suspended from practice” mean?
The regulator imposed a fixed-term suspension in this decision. Its start date, appeal provisions and any later review affect whether it is currently in force. Check the official register for the practitioner's current status.
Concerning Emma Jones, operating department practitioner (Health and Care Professions Council ODP35988).
Decision date: 9 April 2024 · Hearing started 8 April 2024 and ended 9 April 2024
In plain English
The HCPTS panel found that operating department practitioner Emma Jones inhaled and misused anaesthetic gases at work on two occasions. It found misconduct and current impairment, noting limited insight, a risk of repetition and her eventual admission after earlier denials. The panel suspended her registration for 12 months and imposed an interim suspension for the appeal period.
Charges
The allegation was that Emma Jones inhaled and misused anaesthetic gases at work while on duty on 2 April 2018 and 16 June 2019, and that this amounted to misconduct which impaired her fitness to practise.
Findings
The panel found both incidents proved. It found that Mrs Jones inhaled and misused anaesthetic gases intended for patients while on duty, that her conduct amounted to misconduct, and that her fitness to practise was currently impaired on both the personal and public components. It imposed a 12-month suspension and an 18-month interim suspension for the appeal period.
Mitigating and aggravating factors
Mitigating factors
There had been no further concerns or repetition since September 2019; The Registrant is an otherwise competent ODP; The Registrant now accepts personal responsibility, that she had brought this matter upon herself and is disgusted with her behaviour.
Aggravating factors
Potential harm to patients; Abuse of position, in that the Registrant had access to anaesthetic gases due to her role as a registered professional; Lack of insight; Repeated misconduct; Lack of meaningful remediation; Risk of repetition; Dishonesty in her evidence under affirmation, because the Registrant had not merely put the HCPC to proof, but positively lied in her evidence.
Source
All facts on this page are drawn from the publicly published Health and Care Professions Council determination linked below. MedicWatch does not editorialise the regulator’s findings.
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