Neonatal nurse fabricated qualifications in a Welsh hospital to get a senior job, court hears

Tanya Nasir is accused of fabricating qualifications and previous jobs when applying for the role at the Princess of Wales hospital in Bridgend.

She started work as a Senior Ward Manager on the neonatal ward in September 2019, before being suspended the following February over “inconsistencies” in her CV.

Today Cardiff Crown Court heard evidence from Sabir Bashir, a senior registration officer with Buckinghamshire New University, where Ms Nasir obtained a nursing diploma.

Mr Bashir was contacted by the Counter Fraud team at Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board following Ms Nasir's suspension.

Officers showed him a letter provided by the defendant, purporting to be from the university, suggesting her diploma had been awarded in 2010, 4 years before the prosecution say she obtained it in 2014.

Mr Bashir told the jury that the information in the letter was not correct.

He also confirmed that the diploma certificate from 2010 was not one issued by Buckinghamshire New University.

Questioning Mr Bashir, prosecutor Emma Harris asked: “Your professional opinion was that the document had been fraudulently amended?”

“Yes”, the witness replied.

The jury heard about further qualifications Ms Nasir put on her job application, specifically a "Mentoring in Professional Practice" certificate awarded in 2019, and a life support qualification obtained in 2013.

Mr Bashir confirmed that Buckinghamshire New University had issued the "Mentorship in Professional Practice" certificate, but that there was no record of Ms Nasir having obtained a qualification in life support.

The witness was also asked about a Fitness to Practice hearing that Tanya Nasir had attended in 2011, while a student at the university.

Mr Bashir said he’d seen a letter from Hertfordshire Probation Service, advising Ms Nasir that she was under no obligation to disclose a previous conviction for benefit fraud.

Another witness - Neeve Bishop from Hertfordshire Probation Service - told the jury that there was no record in the system of the letter Ms Nasir showed the Fitness to Practice Hearing.

Ms Bishop confirmed that the defendant had been sentenced for social security offences in October 2010.

Earlier, the jury heard evidence from Nicola Bibby, a Registration Manager at the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

The trial has previously heard that Tanya Nasir claimed on her job application to have been registered with the HCPC, a registration required to carry out her duties as a ward manager.

But Ms Bibby told the court that an HCPC registration certificate recovered from the defendant’s home was not “authentic and true.”

The witness also told the jury that she was unable to find Ms Nasir’s name on the HCPC register, and that the BSc in Operating Department Management the defendant claimed to hold was not an approved qualification for entry onto the register at that time.

Tanya Nasir was arrested on suspicion of fraud in April 2021 and told police that the information provided in her CV was “accurate, correct and truthful.”

The 45 year old, from Hertfordshire, denies 9 charges relating to fraud and the case is expected to last for around a month.

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