Drug addicted nurse, 39, faces being struck off after snorting cocaine while on duty on a hospital ward

Published: 14:11 EDT, 1 November 2026 | Updated: 14:12 EDT, 1 November 2026 A drug addicted nurse who snorted cocaine and dealt the class A substance while working at a hospital faces being struck off.Emma Sim, 39, was suspended from St John's Hospital in Livingston, West Lothian, in July and admitted abusing cocaine while on duty. The mental health specialist also pleaded guilty to dealing the drug while working on the ward and told the court she felt 'embarrassed and disgusted by her behaviour'.Livingston Sheriff Court heard that her conduct was 'culpable and reckless' and Sim, of Armadale, West Lothian, now faces being banned from nursing. The 39-year-old had dealt cocaine for a year between 2023 and 2024.In February 2024, she snorted an unknown quantity of the class A substance, a court heard. Emma Sim, 39, was suspended from St John's Hospital in Livingston, West Lothian, in July and admitted abusing cocaine while on duty (File image)According to The Sun, Sheriff Valerie Mays told Sim: 'You are very well aware, in part through your own personal experience, how drugs can wreck lives.'Sheriff Mays told Sim her offences met the 'threshold' for prison but that she chose not to hand the mental health nurse a custodial sentence. Instead the defendant must spend 120 days on tag with a curfew. Sim was also handed an 18-month supervision order and 210 hours of unpaid community service.Sheriff Mays told Sim she needed to 'take steps' to ensure her cocaine addiction is 'under control' and 'does not resurface'.As part of her sentence, the nurse must also arrange to meet substance abuse services. Sim is now set to appear before a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) misconduct tribunal after she was suspended in March last year.The 'fitness to practise' investigation could result in Sim being barred from the profession for life, though the NMC is yet to reach a judgment.