A HOSPITAL worker who stole £1.3 million of vital medical equipment then sold it for just £70,000 has been jailed for four years.
Daniel Dreghorn swiped the haul over two years from his job at the decontamination unit at Ayrshire Central Hospital.
The items taken included life-saving equipment used on cancer patients.
Dreghorn sold the specialist goods on the internet to buyers in the USA and Hong Kong.
As he was led away to begin his sentence Dreghorn mouthed "sorry" to hospital staff who were sitting in the public benches at the High Court in Glasgow.
Since this offence procedures at NHS Ayrshire and Arran have been tightened up.
Judge Lord Turnbull told Dreghorn: "You denied to vulnerable patients this vital equipment. You showed a wholly callous level of indifference."
He added that this theft affected those "requiring urgent medical care."
Lord Turnbull said that he took into account Dreghorn's previous good character and work record.
Dreghorn was only caught in March 2014 when a patient sparked an investigation after an operation was suddenly cancelled due to medics not having the appropriate equipment as a result of Dreghorn's theft.
When police later raided the 39 year-old's home, officers discovered some of the equipment still stashed in his garden hut.
Between October 2012 and July 2014, Dreghorn managed to steal 136 pieces of medical equipment.
Fraser Paterson, National Counter Fraud Manager, NHS Scotland Counter Fraud Services, said, "Dreghorn's crime is shameful. The NHS is a national treasure.
"This sort of wrongdoing not only takes vital money out of the NHS in an economically challenging climate, it also impacts on patients, some of whom desperately need the treatment and care that this money should be providing."
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