Nurse jailed for doctoring sick note

Mar 11 2010 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

A DEPRESSED nurse who doctored his own sick note to get more time off work has been jailed.

Psychiatric nurse Martin McLelland received over £10,000 in sick pay from NHS Lothian after he fraudulently extended his time off from St John’s Hospital.

The 42-year-old was signed off from work in 2008 for three-and-a-half weeks suffering from a sore jaw and an infected toe.

However, Livingston Sheriff Court heard he altered the date on the certificate so he could extend his time off until March 2009. During this period he falsely claimed £10,482.15 in occupational and statutory sick pay from his employers.

But McLelland, who had been a nurse for 24 years, was caught by investigators from NHS Scotland’s Counter Fraud Services (CFS) after the health board noticed alterations had been made to his sick lines. As well as losing his job he now faces being struck-off the nursing register after he was jailed for four months.

Last week at the court, McLelland, whose address was given as Sycamore Glade, Livingston, pled guilty to fraud.

His solicitor, Iain Smith, said his client had been suffering from depression and was on medication when he altered the sick notes from his doctor. Mr Smith said if he had consulted his GP he would have been signed off anyway.

“There was no great scheme to what he did. There was no elaborate scam, he simply changed the dates,” Mr Smith said. “He cannot adequately explain it. At the time he was in a lot of pain from his jaw and he was depressed. It does not make much sense as he would have got a sick line for his condition which was ongoing. He is not a malingerer. He has served the community for 24 years, albeit he was paid for it, as a psychiatric nurse.

“He is at a low risk of harm and future offending. He is not going to get into trouble again.

“He can’t remember doing it but accepts that he did and that it was wrong. He has not gained from this — in fact he has lost everything. He will be stripped of his job and registration from nursing, rendering his qualification meaningless.

“This is a man with no previous convictions and he has already suffered the ultimate punishment for him as the career he loved for 24 years is over. As far as he is concerned he just cannot remember what went on. A signal could be sent to the public that this will not be tolerated by a sentence other than custody. There will be ongoing consequences for Mr McLelland as he will never work as a nurse again. Although custody is an option it is not the only option.”

However, Sheriff Donald Muirhead insisted only a custodial sentence would do.

Sheriff Muirhead said: “I obviously listened very carefully to your solicitor and there is no doubt indeed that you have already suffered terribly for this offence. But I cannot get away from the fact that you were in quite a responsible position within the National Health Service. You were a psychiatric nurse who was fully aware of the importance of the credibility of the system.

“It is the act of falsifying these notes that goes against the whole way that the NHS operates and that seems to me the kind of matter the public would expect a serious penalty for. It seems to me that in all the circumstances the only appropriate disposal is a custodial sentence.”

Maggie Worsfold, patient fraud and communications manager at NHS Scotland CFS, said: “Martin McLelland’s fraudulent scheme netted him thousands of pounds that should have gone directly to patient care and services. Fraud in the NHS will be pursued rigorously and action will be taken against those who persist in stealing money from frontline patient care.”