Nurse who scammed NHS out of £7,000 by claiming sick pay while working nearly 120 shifts elsewhere is suspended for six months

A nurse who pocketed almost £7,000 in sick pay from the NHS while working at a private healthcare provider has been suspended for six months. 

Williams Ibi reported four periods of absence while working at University Hospitals of North Midlands between April 2020 and February 2021.

Mr Ibi worked 119 shifts while claiming sick pay from the Trust during the pandemic, which equated to a total of £6,940. 

During one absence, the Staffordshire nurse worked 2,571 hours or 44 hours a week for the private company despite the NHS being under 'extreme pressure'. 

Following an investigation, the nurse was subsequently dismissed.

The incident was also reported to Staffordshire Police, which served Mr Ibi a conditional caution for fraud by false representation on June 22, 2022. 

A Nursing and Midwifery Council Fitness to Practise Committee suspended the nurse for six months, at which time his case will be reviewed. 

It said in its ruling: 'Shifts which you were supposed to work but which you did not undertake, because of your calling in sick, had to be filled by either an agency nurse or by another nurse from the Trust detailed to do so.

'This was during a time of extreme pressure on the Trust because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

'The panel considered that by choosing to work elsewhere during these periods you put additional pressure on the department for which you worked, which put patients at risk.

'By acting fraudulently in claiming sick pay whilst working elsewhere, you breached the fundamental tenets of the nursing profession and therefore brought its reputation into disrepute.

'This conduct was also dishonest, as you have admitted.'