A health care assistant, Maria Jimenez, received an 18 month supervision order in February at Nottingham Crown Court for defrauding the NHS by altering her timesheets. This is following an investigation by the NHS Counter Fraud Service.
She also received an 18 month community punishment order (on four counts, to run concurrently) and was ordered to repay NHS Professionals (NHSP) over £1000.
Jimenez worked in temporary positions at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) via NHS Professionals, the public body which procures staff for Trusts from recruitment agencies. It became clear she was invoicing for more hours than she actually worked.
From January 2007 to the end of May 2007 Jimenez was booked to work 47 shifts on a variety of wards across both campuses of NUH. For 31 of these shifts, she altered start or finish times on her timesheets after they were signed off by her line managers, meaning she was paid extra for hours she did not work. In October 2007 Jimenez was suspended from further duties by NHSP, who called in the NHS Counter Fraud Service (CFS).
Two thirds of the inflated claims related to one particular ward at the Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC), Nottingham. Jimenez was booked to work there until 9pm, but falsely claimed to have worked until 11pm, on 16 separate occasions. Jimenez added an extra five hours to one shift – while putting in an overlapping claim for an extra six hours work on another ward. She was unable to explain to NHS CFS investigators how she could be in two places at once. Jimenez also claimed to have worked in areas that were not even open at the time of morning she stated, such as the QMC GP Assessment Unit.
Commenting on the case
Managing Director of the NHS Counter Fraud Service Dermid McCausland said after the court case: "These acts of fraud by Maria Jimenez were systematic and prolonged, and it was in the public interest to investigate and expose them. The majority of NHS health care assistants are honest hardworking people and they are as determined as we are to track down and punish the dishonest minority who exploit their good name to abuse the system.”
A Zimbabwean man living illegally in the UK for the past five years has been found guilty of frauds worth over £100,000 at Guildford Crown Cour. It’s following an investigation by the NHS Counter Fraud Service.
Surrey-based NHS healthcare assistant Moses Garaba, 52, had no legal right to remain or work in the UK but used false Home Office documents and a false National Insurance number card to obtain employment and a Key Worker Home Loan.
Garaba used these documents to work for the Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Trust and to apply as a bank worker with NHS Professionals. In November 2005 he obtained a Key Worker Home Loan to purchase a 1-bedroom flat from Sentinel Housing using the same papers and his NHS job status.
Managing Director of the NHS Counter Fraud Service, Dermid McCausland said: “The cost of Garaba’s dishonesty to the taxpayer and to himself is considerable. This result helps maintain public trust in our health system and in the scheme to help our key workers to access housing. This outcome demonstrates that the NHS is no safe haven for fraudsters and, in the long run, fraud doesn’t pay.”
On behalf of the NHS Counter Fraud Service, Garaba was arrested by officers from Guildford CID on 07 July 2007 on suspicion of fraudulently obtaining employment. His passport was found to contain a false Home Office stamp. A false Home Office letter and National Insurance (NI) number card were also seized.
When interviewed under caution he denied knowledge that they were false. He claimed he obtained the Home Office documents by post through a solicitor in London, but could not recall the solicitors’ name or address. He also claimed he applied for the NI card at Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) offices in Woking and subsequently received the card in the post.
To mount the successful challenge to his version of events, witness statements were collected from the Home Office, DWP, Sentinel Housing, NHS Professionals and the Trust. After his arrest the Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Trust terminated his employment, and he was rearrested for immigration offences.
Garaba was found guilty in February on eight counts: these included four counts for using a copy of a false instrument (contrary to section 4 of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981), one count of fraud (contrary to section 1 of the Fraud Act 2006) and three counts of possessing an article for use in a fraud contrary to section 6(1) of the Fraud Act 2006. The case has been adjourned for pre-sentencing reports. Garaba will be sentenced on April 3.
