Care worker stole dead patient’s bank card
A HEALTHCARE assistant working on a Birmingham Covid ward used a dead patient’s bank card to buy crisps, sweets and fizzy drinks, less than 20 minutes after her death.
Ayesha Basharat took the 83-year-old woman’s card after she died at Heartlands Hospital at 1.56pm on January 24.
Just 17 minutes later she used the dead woman’s card half a dozen times to make £1 purchases using a vending machine’s contactless touch pad.
The 23-year-old made another purchase the same evening before trying again twice when she next returned to work on January 28 but the card was cancelled.
Basharat, of Farm Road, Sparkhill, admitted theft and fraud by false representation at Birmingham Crown Court. She was given two five-month jail terms to run concurrently, both suspended for 18 months.
The court heard she still had the victim’s card when she was arrested by police during her shift on Ward One.
Basharat initially said she found it on the floor and got it “muddled up” with her own card when paying.
However, they were different colours and a court heard how she ignored hospital protocol around patient lost property.
West Midlands Police Force CID investigating officer Det
Con Andrew Snowdon said: “This was an abhorrent breach of trust and distressing for the victim’s family.
“They were having to come to terms with the death of a loved one from Covid when they found the bank card missing - and then, of course, the realisation that the card was taken by someone who should have been caring for her.”
The University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Heartlands Hospital, said Basharat was suspended as soon as it heard about the incident. An internal inquiry has now begun.
A UHB spokesman said: “Ayesha Basharat was immediately suspended when this incident came to light and all steps were taken to support the patient’s family. “We would like to offer our sympathies to the patient’s family and sincerely apologise for their experience; this incident is disgraceful and clearly fell short of the high standards of integrity that we all expect of NHS employees.”