Nurse defrauded NHS of £70k for false shifts
A former nurse who defrauded an NHS Trust out of more than £70,000 by claiming wages for unworked shifts has been jailed for 18 months.
Dean Armitage, of Edmund Street, Bradford, booked and approved himself for 185 backdated overtime shifts at a mental health unit in Greater Manchester, which he had not worked.
The 33-year-old had been a cocaine addict and ran up debts at the time of his offending, between September 2019 and March 2021, Bradford Crown Court heard.
He pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position, which was described by a judge as "persistent, sophisticated and determined," at his sentencing at the same court on Thursday.
"It was a gross abuse of the trust that had been placed in you by your employer," Recorder Ian Mullarkey said.
Armitage, a team leader and mental health practitioner at a medium secure unit, told police he had found he could authorise his own shifts by accident.
He mainly claimed for night shifts, which were paid at a higher rate, a Greater Manchester Mental Health Foundation Trust spokesperson said.
He backdated the shifts, meaning they did not appear on any rota and therefore did not raise suspicion, the Trust added.
Data revealed no evidence of Armitage entering or exiting the unit during the 185 shifts he fraudulently claimed for, the Trust spokesperson said.
His offending cost the NHS a total of £72,632.71 in wages and holiday pay, the court heard.
Barrister Erin Kitson-Parker, defending, said Armitage was ashamed of his behaviour and realised the money he had taken could have been used to have a substantial impact on patient care.
"He understands he abused his position, and he understands he has to be accountable," she said.
"It is a great fall from grace for this defendant."
Recorder Mullarkey said only an immediate prison sentence was appropriate.
He did not make a compensation order due to Armitage's lack of means, as the court heard he was still in debt and was now receiving benefits.
Armitage was dismissed by the Trust during its investigation and has been suspended from working as a nurse by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
Nurse defrauded NHS trust with false shifts claims
Nurse faked timesheets to pocket £26k in wages
Hospital doctor faked timesheets to claim more pay
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
HM Courts and Tribunals Service
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
NHS Confederation and Beamtree launch data analytics platform for NHS trusts
The UK's National Health Service (NHS) Confederation has partnered with health technology company Beamtree to introduce The Evolve Collaborative, which aims to enhance the use of operational data at NHS trusts in England. The initiative is focused on offering acute care services, enhancing patient outcomes and increasing efficiency. It combines Beamtree's analytics platform with the NHS Confederation's expertise in convening and improvement, with the aim to benchmark performance, understand variations and apply data-driven enhancements to processes. NHS Confederation chief executive Matthew Taylor said: 'The Evolve Collaborative seeks to empower clinicians, boards and operations leaders with the data they need. 'The collaborative will be a driven by our members and will encourage them to be curious about who else is doing things differently, and to ask 'why'. 'By combining predictive analytics with peer learning, we're giving NHS leaders the tools and support they need to drive real, measurable improvement." The Evolve Collaborative's analytics platform uses AI and machine learning to predict future trends. This will allow NHS trusts to identify challenges and assess the potential impact of different interventions. The platform is supported by tailored dashboards and tools designed for various roles within the NHS. A key component of the partnership is the formation of peer-to-peer learning communities, which are facilitated by experts in improvement. These aim to provide a secure environment for members to exchange best practices and jointly develop solutions to common challenges. Evolve Collaborative membership is currently available to NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts providing acute services in England. Beamtree chief executive Marek Stepniak said: 'Our experience with Health Roundtable in Australia and New Zealand has delivered measurable improvements in healthcare delivery. 'These insights have already helped providers on the other side of the world achieve tangible outcomes and we look forward to bringing this proven model of learning and collaboration to the UK." "NHS Confederation and Beamtree launch data analytics platform for NHS trusts" was originally created and published by Hospital Management, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Boy, 16, killed in hit and run crash named locally
A teenage pedestrian who was killed in a hit and run crash in Sheffield has been named locally. Abdullah Yaha Al-Zaidy, 16, was struck by a grey Audi which is believed to have been driven towards three electric bikes on Staniforth Road in Darnall on Wednesday afternoon. One of the e-bike riders, an 18-year-old man, suffered serious injuries and remains in hospital. A 20-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder on Thursday. Residents and local councillors have now paid tribute to the boy, who "always gave the best smiles", and said his death as he walked along the pavement behind the e-bikes had shocked the community. Three people, a 45-year-old woman and two men aged 26 and 46, have been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. All three remain in custody. Abdullah was described as an "innocent bystander" to the incident by South Yorkshire Police. The car did not stop at the scene. Mrs Khan, who has been living in the area for eight years, said the teenager used to work at Shansha Red Shop on Staniforth Road and serve her ice cream. "He was a good lad, reserved, not talkative but always gives good smiles," she said. "It's so sad. I couldn't sleep, especially knowing him, that upsets me really. "He was such a young boy." Darnall Labour councillor Mary Lea said: "I can speak for myself and my colleague, councillor Zahira Naz, and say we were shocked when we heard about this incident. "My first thoughts were of the family and the boy who lost his life and the tragedy of it all. "Our hearts go out to this young man's family at this time; and we can only imagine their grief and pain. We are thinking about them and they [are] in our prayers." South Yorkshire Police said the boy's family had been informed and was being supported by officers. Abdullah's name and photograph were shared by the South Yorkshire Janazah Announcements Facebook page, which provides information about Muslim funerals and burials, on Friday morning. The post read: "Abdullah, known locally as Abdul, was a beloved member of the Al-Shafeey Centre mosque. "He was reportedly walking to a nearby shop to meet his father, with plans to eat together, when the tragic accident occurred. "May Allah grant him the highest ranks of Jannah and grant his family and friends strength and patience during this unimaginable time." Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North Murder arrest after boy, 16, dies in crash Hunt for driver after boy, 16, dies in hit-and-run South Yorkshire Police
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
The NHS truths the Left don't want you to hear
Until very recently, Health Secretary Wes Streeting tried to market himself as a radical health reformer, who is not afraid to poke sacred cows. While his reform-minded rhetoric always remained at a highly-abstract and general level, Streeting deserved some credit for it, because he did not have to do this. He had the courage to say things which he knew would rub some people up the wrong way, not least the Corbynite wing of his own party. Sadly, that brief period of NHS candour is now officially over. Streeting, the self-styled reformer, is no more. He and his colleagues have fully retreated into their comfort zone. During the recent local election campaign, Labour distributed a leaflet that showed a mock medical bill, and a doctor holding up a credit card reader. The message was clear: vote for us, because this is what the other lot want to do to you. On Twitter/X, Labour are now frequently posting dire warnings about the alleged evils of insurance-based healthcare systems. This is exactly that old-school NHS cultism which Streeting used to disavow until five minutes ago. It may work for him. The NHS may be falling apart, but the cult around is still going strong. In the eyes of its keenest defenders, the NHS can do no wrong. They have quietly dropped the old cliché about the NHS being 'the envy of the word', and replaced it with a slightly more subtle version, which goes something like this: Once upon a time, the NHS used to be the best healthcare system in the world. But then, from 2010 on, it was systematically defunded. It was deliberately run into the ground, so that it can be privatised more easily. A privatised system would mean luxury healthcare for the rich, and Wild West medicine for the poor. None of these claims are true. Let's have a look at each of them in turn. The NHS was never the best healthcare system in the world. The idea that it ever was can be traced back to a ranking compiled by the Commonwealth Fund, an American healthcare think tank, which relies on a very unusual methodology, in which medical outcomes only account for a fifth of the total score. This matters, because on medical outcomes, the NHS has always been one of the worst-performing healthcare systems in the developed world – as even the Commonwealth Fund study shows. There is no turning point after which the NHS's performance suddenly deteriorated. It was just never good in the first place. At the end of the 2010s, age-adjusted real NHS spending per capita was only marginally higher than it had been in the beginning of the decade. Put differently, the NHS budget only just about kept pace with population growth, population ageing, and inflation. This clearly constituted a slowdown in spending increases compared to the previous decade. But it does not constitute a 'defunding'. In any case: that period of relative spending restraint is already over again. The NHS budget was given a massive boost during the pandemic, which has only been partially reversed. Public healthcare spending in the UK stands at just under 9% of GDP: one of the highest levels in the world. Conspiracy theories about secret plans to privatise the NHS have been around for decades. I wrote a report on this three years ago, for which I went through the news archives, and I found warnings about the NHS's imminent demise from every year since 1980. But somehow, it never happens. The NHS remains an unusually state-centred system. Most healthcare systems, including tax-funded ones, use a mix of public, private for-profit and private non-profit providers. There are no plans – secret or otherwise – to privatise the NHS. More's the pity. Because there is nothing wrong with private healthcare systems. There are good examples of private, insurance-based healthcare systems, most notably in the Netherlands and Switzerland, which are nothing like the dreaded system of the US. These systems cover everybody: poor people are exempt from health insurance premiums and co-payments. Under these systems, rich and poor alike get faster access to medical treatment, and better medical outcomes, than they would on the NHS. The only thing these people don't get is a naff feel-good mythology around their health systems. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
