Posted 14 January 2025 - 13:42
Posted 14 January 2025 - 13:42
News
Nurse struck off for prescribing Botox remotely and unsafely
Nursing and Midwifery Council fitness to practise panel found Heather Hazzard failed to check the qualifications and competence of an undercover reporter who posed as a beauty therapist to access Botox prescriptions. The registrant also admitted to other charges, such as recommending that single-use botulinum toxin prescriptions could be used for multiple patients. The panel said she had put patients at ‘unwarranted risk of harm’.
Fitness to practise panel found Heather Hazzard failed to check qualifications of undercover reporter who posed as a beauty therapist, and put patients at ‘unwarranted risk of harm’
A nurse prescriber has been struck off the register after she prescribed Botox (botulinum toxin) remotely to an undercover reporter and failed to carry out appropriate checks required under medical guidelines.
Heather Hazzard was working as a self-employed aesthetics practitioner in 2021 when she was contacted by beauty therapist ‘Lauren’ through an app, Faces, to prescribe botulinum toxin for her clients. ‘Lauren’ was a reporter working undercover.
The investigation found Ms Hazzard prescribed Lauren the cosmetic drug remotely, despite guidance stating it can only be prescribed safely following a face-to-face consultation with a patient, due to a risk of side effects including allergic reactions, infections and facial paralysis.
Nurse admits to nine charges
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) brought a fitness to practise (FtP) case against Ms Hazzard, who had worked as a nurse for almost 40 years, after an article detailing the findings of the undercover reporter was published in the Times.
In a consensual panel determination agreement between the NMC and Ms Hazzard in December 2024, she admitted to nine charges, including that she failed to check Lauren’s qualifications and competence before prescribing, and did not adhere to NMC guidance on prescribing.
Reporter given advice that contradicts medical guidelines
Ms Hazzard also recommended that single-use botulinum toxin prescriptions could be used for multiple patients, and partly used vials of a particular brand could be stored in the freezer, despite the manufacturer’s instructions stating explicitly that it could not be frozen, the FtP panel heard in January.
Ms Hazzard was found to have told Lauren during a phone call that while it was ‘not the right way to do it’, she could over-order stocks of botulinum toxin for one client to keep and use on future clients, which also contradicts guidance.
Nurse admits charges ‘so I can be removed from register’
The FtP case report stated Ms Hazzard had also lied to the pharmacy that was supplying her with Botox, telling them the NMC had confirmed by email that she could carry out virtual consultations because she was at high risk of contracting COVID-19. The regulator said it had sent no such email.
Ms Hazzard told the NMC she did not remember saying this but would admit to it ‘so I can be removed from the register and this case can be brought to a close’.
Nurse ‘sad and sorry my career has ended in this way’
She also said she had undertaken face-to-face consultations before prescribing to other practitioners, but admitted she had not updated her knowledge of guidelines on aesthetic treatments and thought that all practitioners would have their qualifications verified by the app she was using.
‘I admit that I showed poor judgement in trying to help the “practitioner” who turned out to be a journalist,’ she said. ‘I had been a nurse and student nurse for almost 40 years and had always worked tirelessly to uphold a high standard of care and professionalism… I am sad and sorry that my career has ended in this way.’
The FtP panel said Ms Hazzard had put patients at ‘unwarranted risk of harm’ and had not shown enough insight, remorse and remediation.
She was struck off and given an 18-month interim suspension order, with 28 days to appeal.
In other news