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Nurse struck off after failing to tell ex-employer of salary error

NHS trust’s administrative mistake meant nurse continued to receive her former salary for almost two years after she left her job, although she said she had always intended to repay the money 
 British cash in various denominations of coins and notes – nurse struck off after being paid more than £30,000 in error by her former NHS employer, Northern Health and Social Care Trust

NHS trust’s administrative mistake meant nurse continued to receive her former salary for almost two years after she left her job, although she said she had always intended to repay the money

 British cash in various denominations of coins and notes – nurse struck off after being paid more than £30,000 in error by her former NHS employer, Northern Health and Social Care Trust
Picture: iStock

A nurse who received more than £31,000 of salary after she left her job has been struck off for failing to inform her employer.

Adult nurse Laura Hillan continued to be paid by the Northern Health and Social Care Trust (NHSCT) for almost two years after she left her role there of student midwife in May 2017.

Although she had completed the paperwork to notify the trust she was leaving, an administrative error by her manager meant she would be paid monthly until February 2019 when the mistake was finally noticed by NHSCT, a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) fitness to practise (FtP) hearing was told.

Nurse said she did not realise her actions amounted to fraud

Ms Hillan, who registered in 2013, said she had always intended to repay the money and did not realise her actions were fraudulent. But the hearing found she had acted dishonestly for a prolonged period and had gained financially – £31,772 in total – from a breach of trust.

The FtP report stated her former employer had issued a letter to Ms Hillan on 22 March 2019 informing her of the overpayment and asking her to contact the trust. The case was referred to the counter-fraud department, which investigated before passing the case to police.

On 1 April 2019 Miss Hillan’s sister contacted the trust on her behalf to say she was out of the country but wanted to set up a repayment plan. On her return to the UK six months later, Ms Hillman contacted NHSCT by email and telephone to set up a repayment plan. She repaid the money in full in April 2020.

‘I always intended to repay the money’

But the FtP hearing found the nurse had behaved dishonestly by concealing from her former employer the fact she was receiving payment to which she was not entitled, and only acted when the police became involved.

Ms Hillan said in a statement to the NMC panel: ‘I never thought I was being dishonest. I always knew the money had to be repaid and it was always my intention to do so.

‘I moved overseas and became preoccupied with life abroad. I know I should have acted sooner and was extremely lax in doing so, however I attempted to repay the money as soon as I received correspondence from the NHSCT.’

The NMC struck her from the register on 3 March. She has 28 days to appeal against the decision.


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