A CALDERSTONES care assistant has been accused of supplying cannabis to a patient at the hospital.
Ian James Whittaker, 33, of Billington Gardens, Billington, appeared before Blackburn magistrates yesterday charged with supplying the drug to a patient.
He is also accused of obtaining a pecuniary advantage, through gaining employment at the Whalley hospital by failing to declare that he had a previous drugs-related conviction.
Whittaker was remanded on bail and his case has been adjourned until March 13 at the request of defence solicitor Kevin Preston.
After the hearing, Graham Jowett, deputy chief executive of Calderstones NHS Trust, confirmed that Whittaker was suspended from duty last Friday pending an internal investigation.
In 1998 the Whalley-based hospital closed the last of its long stay wards to resettle residents into the community.
More than 1,400 people have been resettled since the Care in the Community programme was launched in 1984.
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