NHS checked 'fake' nurse qualifications, jury told

Tanya Nasir denies the nine counts of fraud and fraud by false representation

A woman accused of faking nursing qualifications and experience to get a job on a unit for sick and premature babies had her references checked by an NHS recruitment portal, a court has heard.

Tanya Nasir, 45, from Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, was suspended from her role as a neonatal ward manager at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend in February 2020.

According to her registration number she qualified as a nurse in 2013, but her CV said she qualified in 2010, with previous experience in a number of senior nursing posts in neonatal units, accident and emergency and intensive care.

At Cardiff Crown Court, Ms Nasir - who resigned two days before a planned disciplinary hearing in November 2020 - denied nine counts of fraud and fraud by false representation.

Paediatric matron Sian Townsend said she became concerned about inconsistencies in Ms Nasir's CV when she began a routine revalidation of her registration five months after she started in the unit.

She said: "I was confused. I thought she had given me the wrong number because it was different to the other nurses. It didn't look right.

"It didn't ring true if she qualified when she said on her CV in 2010.

"Either it was a mistake on the CV or she was saying she was a registered nurse and she was not."

She said Ms Nasir became "argumentative" when she was challenged about the real date of her registration.

The court head Ms Townsend escalated her concerns to a senior manager and arranged a further meeting with Ms Nasir on 2 February 2020 to confirm her qualifications and experience.

She said Ms Nasir told her Buckingham New University "could not find her original certificate", and instead she handed over a letter which she claimed was from the Academic Quality Directorate at the university.

The letter said a duplicate certificate that was issued in February 2014 had been included, in respect of an award (qualification) in 2010.

Ms Townsend said she gave the letter to NHS counter fraud officers.

During her interview at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, Ms Nasir told the staff she had been 'shot at' in Afghanistan

The court heard when Ms Nasir was interviewed for the post at the hospital, she told the panel about her military career.

Ms Townsend said she recalled Ms Nasir asking if the hospital would allow her to take each August off for training with the Territorial Army.

She said Ms Nasir told the panel she had served in Iraq in 2008 and had been "shot at" in Afghanistan.

On Tuesday the court was told Ms Nasir had joined the Army Cadet Force in November 2013 and had been discharged and struck off in May 2016. She left with the rank of sergeant instructor.

The jury was told she had never been deployed in active conflict or combat.

Ms Nasir also said she had worked in Canada and Dubai but "the Ministry of Defence had advised her not to put that on her CV".

In addition, the details of former colleagues in both medicine and the military which Ms Nasir had provided as references failed to stack up under scrutiny from investigators.

Ms Townsend added that the investigation and Ms Nasir's suspension in February 2020 had a huge impact on the neonatal staff, coming at the start of the Covid pandemic.

"It was a testing time, nobody knew what the pandemic was going to bring. Staff were going off sick and we were a ward manager down," she said.

"We were short of staff. They were upset because they had no knowledge of what she was suspected of. We weren't at liberty to mention it.

"Morale on the unit was very low."

Ms Townsend said the experience had also had a "profound effect" on her personally.

"I have been working for 42 years as a registered nurse and I am proud of my profession, but this made me question people's integrity.

"I was part of the team and personally I felt let down."

The trial continues.