Neonatal nurse accused of faking her CV to get a senior job has been found guilty

A nurse accused of faking her CV to get a senior job on a neonatal ward has been found guilty.

Tanya Nasir was accused of fabricating qualifications and jobs on her CV to get a job as a Band 7 Ward Manager on the Neonatal ward at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, where she worked for 5 months starting in September 2019.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that she was suspended from her role after “inconsistencies” were spotted in her CV, which led to an NHS counter fraud investigation.

Ms Nasir resigned from her job in November 2021.

During the course of the trial, which lasted more than 4 weeks, the jury heard how Tanya Nasir had claimed in her job application to have worked as a nurse since 2004.

In reality, the defendant hadn’t registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council until February 2014.

Ms Nasir also claimed to have been employed at the West Herts Hospitals Trust, as a Band 5 ICU nurse, and at the Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust, as a neonatal sister - jobs which, the court heard, she had never held.

The jury was also told about fake qualifications put forward by Ms Nasir, including degrees in physics and astrophysics from Hatfield Polytechnic (now the university of Hertfordshire).

Her registration document with the HCPC, which she needed to become a ward manager, was also false.

Ms Nasir made further false claims to have served with the army, including as a Platoon Commander and Combat Medical Officer in the Royal Medical Corps, where she said she’d achieved the rank of Major.

But the truth was that she’d failed the basic fitness test for the army reserve in 2010. The full extent of her military experience was less than three years with the Cadet Force, where she was a sergeant instructor before being discharged and struck off in 2016.

The defendant had never seen active service or been deployed overseas, as she said.

A further claim that she’d obtained a PGCE from the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst to become a qualified army teaching Instructor was also a lie.

An e-mail address for a referee on Nasir’s job application in the name of Matthew Nash-Yearwood - a major in the cadet force - was false and in reality linked to an account operated by Ms Nasir.

Tanya Nasir was arrested in April 2021 by Dyfed Powys Police on suspicion of fraud. She told police that all the information she provided on her CV was “accurate, correct and truthful.”

In 35 hours of interviews with counter-fraud officers she stood by her claims, including that during the course of a 16 year military career, she’d served in Iraq, Sudan and in Afghanistan, where as a combat medical officer she’d been just 500 metres from the front line.

But when asked about the claims in court she was unable to answer basic questions about how she’d entered the war-torn country.

Addressing the jury, prosecutor Emma Harris said Ms Nasir’s actions had “placed at risk the trust which the public can have in those employed in the nursing profession.”

Ms Harris added that Nasir had “placed the most vulnerable of patients at risk.”

The court was told that Nasir, who’s 45, has four previous convictions for benefit fraud dating back to 2010.

In a statement issued following the verdicts, Paul Mears, Chief Executive of Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, said he “welcomed” the jury’s verdicts, adding: “Ms Nasir intentionally deceived employers and colleagues throughout her career, and was finally exposed thanks to the vigilance of our teams and processes at CTM.

“During the very short time that Ms Nasir was employed and present in her largely office based role at Princess of Wales Hospital, her contact with babies and their families was extremely minimal.

“Following a thorough internal investigation, we can provide firm assurance to families, who were with us at that time, that no harm was caused due to Ms Nasir’s employment on the neonatal unit.”

Gayle Ramsay, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Tanya Nasir deliberately lied about her qualifications and employment history so that she could gain employment in a senior and sensitive nursing role where she would be entrusted with the responsibility of caring for newborn babies.

"Nasir not only lied in respect of her own qualifications but also lied on behalf of others. In doing so she betrayed the trust of employers and colleagues, and showed a total disregard for the welfare and safety of vulnerable patients, putting their lives at significant risk.

The jury unanimously found Nasir guilty of nine charges including fraud, possession of an article for use in fraud, use of a false instrument with intent, and securing unauthorised access to computer material with intent.

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