A social worker who stole hundreds of pounds from service users has been removed from the social care register.

Karen Buchanan, 35, received a 10 month suspended sentence for five counts of theft at Medway Magistrates Court in July 2008.

She had admitted stealing £100 from one service user and £680 from another between 2006 and 2007, as well as stealing £280 from the lottery fund ran by staff in the Mental Health Team at St Bartholomew's Hospital in Rochester.

The thefts came to light when she was on secondment as a social worker at the Kent and Medway Mental Health Service.

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