Help catching thief

[ballybean]

Changed username as don't want to be outed. Im a nurse and we often receive gifts from patients. We have a press where we leave gift bags with peoples names in them. We might get candles, creams etc and collect them when we come in. We also often get vouchers which are put into a locked drug press which only the nurses (only from our ward) have access to, only one set of keys with floats around the place but always in someone's hand. Mainly managers have them and we take them as needed. These vouchers keep going missing so is a nurse taking them. Manager not doing anything about it. Very hard to monitor the vouchers coming in as usually patients drop them in when being discharged so can't control who they are handed to. We started locking them in drug press for safety but it's not working.

I'd love to catch the robber! Obvious action would be to place camera on drug press which will stop them but you legally have to say if camera on staff. I suggested putting tracker on the voucher!!! My colleague said this is prob illegal! Any other suggestions?

Are nurses allowed to accept vouchers?Why couldn't it be a manger?

Could whoever is given a gift email everyone on the day it's received? I suppose it would lof it's existence essentially. An email from management outlining what appears to be happening might also help.

^log

So we have a WhatsApp group and if a voucher comes in we take a picture of it in press and put it in WhatsApp group tagging the person it's for but it doesn't make a difference. The drug press is in a store room. The drugs that are in it are controlled drugs and should only be accessed if two people there but doesn't stop them. If it's quiet they can get keys and get away with it.

Not sure what you mean by tracker on the voucher? What you could do is register the gift card potentially and see where it gets spent but in any case I am disappointed that manager not doing anything about this. Very bad form of them not to address.
You can't put a camera on without permission but you could do something else to sabotage eg put stain ink on the voucher envelope and then see who has stained hands or something sleuthy like that ?

It's hard to monitor the vouchers coming in as I said they can be dropped into anyone, or sometimes posted in, sometimes given to doctor at a follow up to pass on. Also because we all work shift, we need a safe place to store them but also access to the key to get them. We have complained to mgt but they aren't doing anything about it

That was a suggestion from a colleague. We are trying to figure out how to do that! Will look into that more as it's a good idea.

You can get tracker cards in shape of gift card so could plant a fake one. There's about 50 staff so wouldn't know where everyone lives but could narrow it down! Again prob wouldn't change anything as would have to approach staff and tell them how I know but I'm afraid Wed get in trouble for it

I'd put a hidden camera there regardless of law just to find out who it was. Then once known, act from there to set them up to be caught 'legally'.

I would too!!

Are there cameras in say the staff room? If so, maybe next time the voucher could be pinned to the noticeboard or similar and a photo of that sent?

if you have someone sufficiently tech savvy — do some phishing — plant a convincing fake voucher that needs redeeming online by inputting identifying details into a mock-up webpage.

Presumably as nurses you all work shifts. Is it feasible to compare the times and dates of thefts with the ward rotas? If you assume there's just one thief, you should be able to eliminate quite a few people by looking at who was in work on all the theft days.

There should be a sign in and out of the cupboard for them? That would make it easier to check against the Rotas especially if you add it as a quick check with checking the CDs?

That's a great idea! Lot of work but will suggest that tonight and see if it's possible.

No camera in the store room with drug press. We have a main office that we all base from and rarely office is left unattended but all it takes is a couple of seconds alone to whip it off and into bag.

Our lunch room is used by too many other staff from around hospital so couldn't store them there.

I suggested a locked post box type thing that only senior managers have access to. Hard to implement these things when manager isn't on board and I work part time so only there every so often

We do a drug check with two nurses every start and end of shift so I suggested doing a checklist for vouchers too, can't stop it happening but can narrow it down to the same staff members on duty. It's hard to accuse with no concrete evidence though.
I think the only way to stop it is a camera but anyone who's worked in hospitals will know it's hard to get these things out in! They would take it more seriously if drugs going missing

If the manager isn't doing anything I'd be inclined to think it's them taking the vouchers!

That maybe worth considering. I’m surprised yourCD cupboard is so ticked away anyone feels safe to access it inappropriately.
I wonder if it’s a union or HR type issue, it’s not the first time when alls said and done.

How about going to shop where voucher is from . I am sure with today's technology they can tell you if vouchers was used date and time etc. Then ask them to look at cctv and see who it was. .....obviously only works if shop agrees but if you explain the situation they might. Or police might....aferall it's is theft.

In my workplace, I'd leave all the vouchers at the reception & security desk which is staffed 24/7, and make it so the team there only hand the voucher over to the named individual on the envelope. Is there anything similar at your workplace?

Surely hospital security should deal with this. They can and do put up covert cameras for all sorts of issues including recurrent theft. The manager should speak to them, if the manager isn't interested in following up, I would actually be very suspicious

If you’re planning to discuss tactics with colleagues at your night shift, how would you know that the person taking the vouchers isn’t among the group of colleagues?

I think the idea of a locked box used purely for vouchers (not meds) with only one or two people knowing the lock code is a good starting point, and doesn’t require camera / fake vouchers etc.

it will certainly warn the culprit against further theft, although you may not be able to identify the culprit once this is implemented.

@ballybean I think it’s extremely strange that your management isn’t willing to send out an email warning that this is theft and whoever is doing it is risking their livelihood for some vouchers, if they’re caught. The vouchers can’t be worth a nurse’s entire salary. Also, it is weird as hell that your management isn’t worried about someone stealing from that location. If the thief is an arsehole or desperate enough to steal vouchers, who’s to say they won’t steal the controlled drugs next? Instead of the controlled drugs box/cabinet, could the vouchers be kept at a coded lock box at the nurse’s desk, so EVERYONE can see when someone opens it? It’s more important to stop the theft than catch the thief, though I do understand it would feel more fulfilling to catch the thief.

If you do want to follow the path of catching the thief though, feel free to PM me. It shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes of work - fake voucher, and two other things I won’t mention that take minutes. I’m happy to help as nurses have helped me a LOT (I’ll never forget the time I woke up from surgery with six IVs still left in, because my veins fail, one of them sewn in an artery, as if the doctors or anesthetist didn’t consider someone would have to take them all out, but the nurse who did have to remove them, including one in my neck, was so, so gentle and I’m still grateful three years later).

Quite!

I can't understand why management on interested in who is stealing vouchers. Drugs do get stolen and it's not a huge leap to think the same person would be interested in taking them.

By the way, there is a really good documentary podcast called the retrievals on Spotify and Apple. It's about a nurse stealing and replacing it with saline in a hospital.

I'm surprised that you are allowed to accept items with financial value. In all the places I've worked at we've either had to refuse them or declare them with the finance department for tax purposes.