Fraudster who faked qualifications landed senior job at Welsh hospital

A woman lied about her qualifications during an interview for a job as a senior nurse on a neonatal unit at a Welsh hospital. She has now been found guilty of nine charges including fraud and obtaining access to unauthorised computer material.

Tanya Nasir, 45, was employed at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend before the fraud was uncovered. Her line manager became concerned during a routine revalidation of her registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. A trial at Cardiff Crown Court heard that further inconsistencies with Nasir’s application were discovered in relation to references and she was suspended from her post in February 2020.

An investigation by the NHS Local Counter Fraud Authority revealed that Nasir’s deception began in 2010 when she failed to disclose a conviction while studying at Buckinghamshire New University, in breach of the university’s fitness to practise policy. She later fabricated a letter purporting to be from Hertfordshire Probation Service, which said she was under no obligation to disclose her convictions. The letter persuaded the university to allow her to continue her studies.

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Between 2013 and 2015, the defendant was employed as a nursing assistant at Hillingdon Hospital in London and went on to work at Spore Bushey Hospital in Watford before returning to Hillingdon. Following her appointment as ward manager for band seven at the Princess of Wales Hospital, it was discovered that information provided by Nasir on her application form and in two applications to Hillingdon was false.

In her application, she claimed that she had qualified as a nurse and registered with the Nursing Midwifery Council in 2010. However, officers confirmed with the university that she did not qualify until 2014. Further checks were made with four other universities from which she claimed to have obtained qualifications. Three confirmed that she had never attended and the fourth confirmed that she had attended but had no record of her having received one of the qualifications outlined in her application.

The previous employers listed were also contacted. Many of them confirmed that Nasir was not employed in the role she claimed to have worked in or that she had never been employed by them in any capacity.

In all three applications, Nasir claimed she had served in the military. She said she had been shot twice while deployed overseas. The investigation found she had never been in the Army or the Army Reserve. She joined the cadet force in November 2013 but was discharged and discharged in May 2016. She has never been deployed in active combat or conflict.

When applying for a role at Hillingdon Hospital in 2015, one of the references she provided was a commanding officer in the Territorial Army. The email address she provided for the reference was the one issued to Nasir while she was in the Army Cadet Force. She used this address to fabricate her own reference and bolster her fraudulent applications. In July 2019, Nasir provided a reference containing lies and fabrications on behalf of another woman to enable her to also gain employment with the NHS.

Nasir, from Hertfordshire, was arrested on 21 April 2021, and her property was searched with digital devices and documents seized. Following her trial, the defendant was convicted of nine charges including fraud, using a forged instrument with intent, possessing articles for use in fraud and obtaining unauthorised access to computer material with intent. She will be sentenced on 24 September.

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