Nurse is banned for moonlighting

A NURSE who pretended to be sick so she could work for another hospital and then posted her holiday pictures on Facebook has been banned from the profession for a year.

Diane Barhoumi, 43, took 14 sick days from her job at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Glasgow but earned about £2000 working on a staff bank.

The nurse from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, then boasted about several foreign holidays on her Facebook page, and posted pictures of herself in numerous exotic locations.

At a conduct and competence hearing of the Nursing and Midwifery Council in Edinburgh on Friday, Mrs Barhoumi was suspended for 12 months for “very serious” dishonesty.

At a previous hearing, she admitted working for Nhslanarkshire Bankaide while on sick leave from the Golden Jubilee Hospital on 14 dates between April 2006 and April 2009.

Witness Fiona Lawrie, senior human resources advisor at the Golden Jubilee Hospital, examined the payroll and said it was obvious Mrs Barhoumi had “worked for another employer while she was off sick”.

Mrs Barhoumi had “worked a lot of hours and had earned quite a lot of money” in the region of £2000 – during the threeyear period.

Panel c h a i r wo man Pamela Ormerod said that Mrs Barhoumi’s mistakes were “not isolated” as there were a “number of acts of dishonesty” during the three-year period.