Doctor suspended after working locum shift while on paid sick leave
A DOCTOR worked a shift at a Welsh hospital while he was signed off sick from another hospital.
Dr Marius Popescu was suspended for two months after it was found he worked a locum shift at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport while he was on paid sick leave from his role as an emergency medicine doctor at the Weston General Hospital in Westonsuper-Mare.
The decision was handed down earlier this month by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS), which adjudicates on complaints made against doctors in the UK.
The tribunal found Dr Popescu had undertaken paid work at the Royal Gwent Hospital on November 24, 2018. At the time, he was on paid sick leave from Weston Area Health NHS Trust.
It was also found that on a date between November 29, 2018, and December 3, 2018, Dr Popescu presented a “fit note” to the trust, dated November 29, 2018, which stated he was “not fit for work” from November 20, 2018, to November 29, 2018.
In his evidence, Dr Popescu said he had not been due to work at the trust from November 23 to 25, 2018, and had planned to self-certify as he regarded himself as having had two separate periods of sickness of less than seven days.
However, he was advised that his sickness constituted a continuous period of absence totalling nine days, which therefore required a fit note from the GP.
In a witness statement, Dr Popescu said that after leaving the GP’s surgery on November 29, 2018 – after he had worked his locum shift in Newport – he recalled “briefly looking at the sickness certificate and thinking that ... it did not accurately reflect the fact that I had two short episodes of illness”.
The tribunal said it believed he “subsequently tried to cover this up by obtaining two further medical certificates on December 3, 2018, which did not cover November 24, 2018” and ruled there was “no doubt that Dr Popescu’s actions were a serious breach of good medical practice (GMP)” but acknowledged that he was “devastated” by his actions.