Nurse lied about having cancer to take time off work
AN epilepsy nurse has been struck off after lying to her bosses at University Hospitals Bristol (UHB) about having cancer.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) heard Alicia Jayne Daniels went on to falsify a treatment plan from one of the hospital’s consultant radiographers to mislead her employers in 2015.
In 2017 she moved to a job at Bristol Community Health and falsely claimed her former line manager no longer worked at the UHB so could not be named as a referee.
The NMC described her dishonesty as “premeditated, systematic and long standing” and said her actions would dismay the public, many of whom were affected by cancer.
Miss Daniels told the panel in an email she did “not wish to participate in matters” so the misconduct hearing went ahead without her.
It heard she worked at UHB as a registered nurse from September 2002 until July 2016, and between October 2014 and September 2015 had long periods of absence due to sickness. During that time she was working as a band 6 epilepsy clinical nurse specialist.
Miss Daniels told the matron she had stage one cancer of the endometrium, the inner lining of the uterus, and that she would require radiotherapy and then a hysterectomy.
When asked for proof so the hospital trust could support her, she provided a letter setting out a sixweek treatment plan, purportedly from a consultant radiographer at the Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre.
The matron had concerns about the authenticity of the letter, and the consultant told the panel sheshe had not written it and she did not know Miss Daniels in a professional or a personal capacity.
The panel heard she admitted the letter was a fake but she maintained she had cancer.
On July 30, 2016, she tendered her resignation from the UHB.
At no point did she disclose she did not have cancer.
Miss Daniels moved to a job as a band 6 senior school nurse at the Bristol Community Health in February 2017.
The panel heard her new employer found she lied in her application about her former line manager having left UHB, and she was dismissed in January 2018.
For the NMC, case presenter Tamsin Ryder said Miss Daniels’ conduct and her breaches of the professional code were exceptionally serious, and would be “considered deplorable by fellow practitioners”.
She said Miss Daniels’ sustained dishonestly and the lengths she went to in order to conceal the truth were indicative of an attitudinal problem.
Ms Ryder said at no point did Miss Daniels demonstrate an understanding of why her conduct was wrong, the impact it could have had on her two employers and the impact on the reputation of the nursing profession.
The panel concluded: “The misconduct involved a significant departure from the standards expected of a registered nurse, and that such behaviour was fundamentally incompatible with remaining on the register.” (IPSO). We adhere to the Editors’ Code of Practice as enforced by IPSO, which can be contacted for advice at IPSO, Gate House 1, Farringdon Street London, EC4M 7LG; www.ipso.co.uk; telephone 0300 123 2220; email advice@ipso.co.uk.
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