Doctor took pay for two years after leaving Liverpool trust

The trust which runs the hospital said all payments "made in error" had been recovered

A doctor's claim that he thought pay he took for two years after leaving a role was "a safety net" was "absurd", a judge has said.

Dr Haydar Al Nageim was paid £41,266 across 27 months after he left Royal Liverpool University Hospital in 2013.

His failure to report the payments saw him struck off by the General Medical Council (GMC) in December 2020.

Dismissing a High Court appeal, Mr Justice Julian Knowles said the doctor had shown "egregious untruthfulness".

The court heard Dr Al Nageim worked as a locum junior doctor at the hospital between August 2012 and February 2013.

When his contract was not renewed, he began working at Wrexham Maelor Hospital, but continued to receive payments from Liverpool until 29 April 2015.

The court was told he had also previously left a junior doctor role at the Countess of Chester Hospital, but had continued to use its on-call rooms and surgical day centre facilities, such as showers, using out-of-date identification to gain access.

'Knew full well'

The GMC said Dr Al Nageim had claimed the first time he knew he had been paid in error was during an interview with fraud investigators in March 2017.

He told investigators he believed the hospital's human resources department had said his pay would continue as a "kindness", adding that he thought the payments were a loan and had been given as a "safety net" in case his personal circumstances required him to leave work.

Dismissing the doctor's appeal against being struck off, Mr Justice Knowles said his statements had "involved especially egregious untruthfulness and dishonesty".

"He knew full well how and when NHS doctors are entitled to be paid," he said.

He added that the doctor "could not have genuinely believed, for one second, that he was still entitled to be paid" and his claim the payments were "some sort of ex gratia 'kindness'... was completely absurd."

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said all payments "made in error" had been recovered and it had "strengthened our processes further to stop this happening in the future".

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [e-mail]