Frimley Park Hospital nurse struck off after claiming £35-an-hour shifts she didn't work

A nurse working at Frimley Park Hospital has been struck off after she claimed to work on dates she wasn’t in for.

Margaret Rawle also claimed money for extra hours while working on the post anaesthetic care unit (PACU) at the hospital even though she was not in the building at the time.During a hearing by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Fitness to Practise Committee in March the panel found there was “no evidence” to support Rawle’s claim she had worked Waiting List Initiative (WLI) volunteer shifts on February 4 2018 and March 24 2018.

This was discovered using swipe card data which was needed to gain access to the PACU.Rawle, who was not in attendance for the hearing, was also found to have “knowingly” claimed for hours which she did not work while filling out a paper claim form.

The panel judged her actions were “dishonest by the standards of ordinary decent people.”“The panel determined that Mrs Rawle has breached one of the fundamental tenets of the nursing profession by her dishonesty,” the NMC panel said while explaining its decision to strike off the nurse.“The panel was of the view that Mrs Rawle’s dishonesty in submitting claim forms with hours and days she had not worked to be serious misconduct amounting to impairment. The panel further determined that, without any further evidence before it, there was an unacceptable risk of repetition.“This was intentional dishonest over-claiming of money from her employer for work claimed to have been performed as a nurse.

"It was not an isolated incident. It was more than dishonest ‘rounding up’ and was over-claiming of pay (at £35 an hour) for a substantial number of hours over multiple days.“Additionally, Mrs Rawle claimed two whole shifts which she had not worked at all. These factors meant that the matters found proved were not at the lower end of dishonesty.”

As well as swipe card data the investigation relied on witnesses including one nurse, whose identity was not disclosed, who started working at PACU in 2010 when Rawle was ward manager.

In a statement, she believed she did “things she should not have done” including “fairly frequently” going out in the middle of a shift to collect her grandson from school and then return to the department.She was eventually dismissed from the Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust following internal disciplinary hearings which concluded by November 2019.

The panel heard during this hearing Rawle called a witness who showed a photo ‘proving’ she had worked on February 4 2018.

Upon examination the photo was actually dated from February 4 2019 leaving the witness “surprised and embarrassed.”While making their decision the panel did acknowledge Rawle had a “long unblemished” service and there were no public protection concerns caused by her actions. While she admitted to the misconduct, she said in a statement she did this “for me and my family.”She added: “‘I have found it impossible to prove my innocence over the past 3 1/2 years. I do not feel it is right to ask my witnesses to give evidence after all this time especially when they were not believed previously. I do not intend to nurse again so have decided to sign the declaration admitting misconduct.”A spokesperson for Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust added: “The honesty and integrity of our staff is paramount. We conducted a full internal investigation as soon as these allegations were raised and following disciplinary proceedings the nurse was dismissed from the Trust.

"We notified the Nursing and Midwifery Council and cooperated fully with the subsequent hearing."