‘No harm appears to have been done’

Hundreds, if not thousands, of patients would have been seen by Levon Mkhitarian when he took on the identity of a real, qualified doctor.

Scores of these were at Ashford’s William Harvey Hospital while Mkhitarian was working in the Cardiology department.

However, the trust behind the hospital, the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (EKHUFT), insist that all patients treated by the fraudulent doctor have been informed, and that “no harm has been caused” by his actions.

The trust’s medical director, Dr Paul Stevens, said: “We have been working with NHS England and have written to all patients who may have been seen by this individual to ensure they were not unduly affected, and thankfully no harm has been caused.”

Dr Stevens also said that an investigation has been launched to see if more “could have been done to pick this up immediately” and that the trust “will be undertaking a full root cause analysis”.

EKHUFT added that Mkhitarian was qualified as a junior doctor but “abused his position” fraudulently using the identity of others to obtain work as a locum in a number of trusts across the country before coming to east Kent.

They said IT staff at the hospital spotted the identity fraud and reported him to the police, and since then have worked with Kent Police, NHS England and a number of other trusts across the UK to “make sure this individual was brought to justice”.

The EKHUFT refused to say how long Mkhitarian worked at the Harvey, or how many patients he saw.

Dr Paul Stevens – “We have written to all patients who may have been seen by this man”