Hospital worker forged own sick notes in benefits scam
MUM ‘UNDER STRESS’ AFTER SON MISSED OUT ON PLACE AT HIS PREFERRED SCHOOL
A HOSPITAL receptionist who forged her own sick notes to claim benefits then worked another job has been spared jail.
Samantha McDermott, 50, used her secretarial job to forge official sick notes claiming she had severe depression following intimate surgery.
At Manchester Crown Court she claimed she was under ‘stress’ due to her son not getting a place at his preferred secondary school.
She then took time off from working at Wythenshawe Hospital and claimed more than £3,000 in taxpayer-funded sickness benefits – whilst also working from home for a group of GPs. The frauds spanned a 13-month period until hospital colleagues noticed discrepancies on her sick notes and discovered they had not been signed off by her GP. It emerged the claims were initially legitimate but McDermott carried on claiming when she agreed to work for the GPs.
At Manchester Crown Court, McDermott, of Weld Road, Withington, admitted fraud by false representation and two offences of making an article used for fraud.
She was handed a 12-month community order after telling how she was ‘upset’ at her son, now 13, not getting a place at his favourite high school and having to enrol him elsewhere.
She also promised to pay back the cash at £200 a month. She is currently working as temporary secretary for auditors KPMG hospital job.
The court heard the fraud took place between December 2015 to January 2016 and then October 2016 to January 2017 whilst McDermott was employed as a full-time medical secretary at the heart unit at Wythenshawe Hospital.
Prosecutor Colette Renton said: “All of the frauds involve the creating of sick notes, more commonly known as ‘fit notes,’ which stated that she was not fit for work. She claimed she was not fit for work in a prepared sick note, yet she did continue to work for a private practice under three GPs she knew from the hospital.”
Alison Mather, defending, said her client had since got a job as a secretary and was willing to pay back the money she took at £200 a month.
She said: “She has a son who was due to go to high school. A place was not available and both her son and his mother were upset by this.
“Due to him losing out on this place he was forced to find another school within the community. After this he then went to live with his father in Ireland and this had further difficulties and stress for the defendant and she tells me that period of her life was very difficult.
“At that time she went to the doctor and attended for a sick note – a legitimate sick note. It was the notes that were discovered afterwards, which are the reasons why she comes before this court.”
McDermott was also ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and pay the money back at £200 a month. after quitting her