NHS chief collapses as she is spared jail over fraud
A DISGRACED NHS chief who admitted to fraudulently paying £11,072 in health service funds to her husband collapsed in court yesterday.
Paula Vasco-Knight, 53, required treatment from paramedics after she was sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.
The former nurse became the first black executive in the health service’s history in 2008.
Awarded a bursary in 2012 as part of her role as NHS head of equalities and diversity, Vasco-Knight, who also ran South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and was on a six-figure salary, commis- sioned her husband to produce a leadership document in 2013.
However, Stephen Vasco-Knight, 46, never completed the document, but still invoiced the trust for payment, which his wife later authorised.
Exeter Crown Court heard how the document was later exposed as “nothing more than a notepad”.
Lloyd Morgan, defending, said Vasco-Knight “bitterly” regretted her actions, adding that she had come from “humble beginnings” and had never expected to fulfil the “dizzying” responsibilities she was later entrusted with.
The recorder, Don Tait, described Vasco-Knight’s actions as a “monumental fall from grace”.
Her husband received a 10-month sentence, suspended for two years.
“As chief executive officer at the trust, one can hardly imagine a more serious abuse of trust and responsibility on your part,” Mr Tait said, adding it was “money from an NHS budget which we all know is under the severest pressure for resources”.
Vasco-Knight was later seen leaving court with members of her family.