Walter Mitty NHS chief lied about his PhD to get top jobs
A FORMER chairman of two NHS trusts admitted yesterday that he had lied about his qualifications to get top jobs.
Jon Andrewes, 63, was described as a Walter Mitty character after it emerged that he falsely claimed that he held a PhD, allowing him to call himself Dr.
When NHS investigators took a closer look at his background, they found he had lied about his past before being appointed by health bosses, who made no effort to check his CV and references.
Andrewes appeared at Exeter Crown Court yesterday on charges of fraud and gaining pecuniary advantage.
The court heard he gained substantial amounts of money from roles he took using deliberate deception.
He chaired the Torbay NHS Care Trust for almost a decade, was a former chairman of the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust, and earned almost £100,000 a year as chief executive of a hospice in Somerset. Last night a senior NHS source said: ‘It took investigators a couple of days to discover the truth about Andrewes. Once they started looking at his claims closely everything started to unravel.
‘During one court appearance, the prosecutor called him a Walter Mitty. That is exactly what he was. It is amazing he managed to reach such top jobs built on a CV made up of lies.
‘It beggars belief that no due diligence was carried out when he was appointed to these NHS trust roles.’
Andrewes pleaded guilty to dishonestly making a false representation over his qualifications to make a gain as chairman of Torbay NHS Care Trust in July 2007.
He admitted a second charge of false representation over his qualifications to make a gain as chairman of the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust in Truro, Cornwall, in April 2015.
He also admitted making a financial gain for his role as chief executive of St Margaret’s Hospice in Taunton, Somerset, by deception in 2004. He pleaded not guilty to a fourth charge of having a false degree certificate from the University of London which he is accused of using in connection with a fraud.
Judge Geoffrey Mercer QC adjourned sentencing until a later date while prosecutors consider whether to allow the charge to lay on the file.
On CVs Andrewes claimed to have a management PhD from Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, as well as a ‘first degree in PPE’ and an MBA ‘with a financial specialism’ from Bristol University. All these claims are untrue.
He also claimed to have been a partner in a technology firm before retiring early.
Official documents show he worked as a social worker, probation officer and builder before using a fake CV to start out in healthcare in 2004.
A year after taking his job at the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust in July 2015, he was interviewed about his past by NHS investigators. Within days he announced he was retiring early ‘through ill health’.
Andrewes was released on conditional bail until sentencing at Exeter Crown Court on March 1. He was told to surrender his passport and stay in the Devon area.
NHS Improvement, which employed him, said there were no concerns about him before he joined Royal Cornwall, and that it only checked qualifications directly relevant to the post. ‘We don’t check degrees but we do check references, including one from the last employer,’ a spokesman said.
The Department of Health refused to comment.
‘No due diligence was carried out’