Three members of staff have been sacked from Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital after drugs went missing from the accident and emergency department, it emerged today.

Bosses were alerted after discrepancies were found in the stock levels for the powerful sedative Diazepam.

The drug is dispensed from an automated machine within the A&E department which can only be used by authorised members of staff.

An investigation was immediately launched by the trust which used detailed transaction logs to identify which members of staff had used the machine.

Access to the unit is limited and staff are only able to dispense the required amount of drugs on the instructions of a qualified clinician.

The machines uses individual bio-metric imaging and personal identification numbers.

David Loughton, chief executive of the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “The safe and secure handling of medicines is of the utmost importance to patients and staff, and covered by clear policies and procedures.

“Medicines’ stocks held on wards are audited on a regular basis with controlled drugs subject to stock checks at the end of each shift.

“The electronic secure medicines’ storage system in A&E is state-of-the-art and is the future of medicines storage in all clinical areas.”