Published Date: 30 January, 2017
Last updated on: 24 April, 2023
Definition: document forgery
ˈdɒkjʊm(ə)nt/ ˈfɔːdʒ(ə)ri/
noun
the creation of a fake document, the changing of an existing document or the inking of a signature without authorization.
“the candidate was found guilty of document forgery, which resulted in dire consequences for the company”
Countless incidents involving credential forgery within the healthcare sector have been recorded in the United Kingdom, causing health institutions of all types to incur financial losses, regulatory implications, reputational damage and, most importantly, internal risks.
Backing this up, read these two stories published in recent years by the BBC News:
The 50 year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan worked as a practice nurse in Birmingham for seven years, as a locum GP and as a physician’s assistant, and was later found to have admitted two counts of fraud and one of obtaining a financial advantage by deception. The prosecutor told the court: “In simple terms, the CV is almost entirely a work of fiction or misleading claims.”
Man jailed for 27 months for falsely posing as qualified doctor!
An investigation by NHS Protect found that he had ‘hijacked’ a genuine GP’s medical credentials to receive at least GBP 361,000 of NHS money in fraudulently obtained earnings. On his CV, he stated that he was awarded a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) in 1991. However, university records show he attended another college and he dropped out after two years. He also claimed to hold a BSc – First-Class Honours – in Biochemistry and Chemistry from the University of Cambridge, dated 1987. Yet the university reported that IT found no record that he studied there either.
Doctors from at least 27 countries were hired in 32 of the 160 hospital trusts in England – according to an investigation on foreign labor carried out by The Guardian in 2015. If we consider the current global rate of document forgery – which stands at 2.32% as of April 2016 – it is highly likely that there may be a significant number of unqualified healthcare professionals currently practicing in the United Kingdom.
The best way to ensure that both healthcare practitioners and institutions maintain excellent quality standards and serve their respective communities to the best of their abilities is by affirming and sustaining integrity, competence and professionalism across all levels of the value chain. This can only be done with such effectiveness by leveraging the most rigorous verification solution available to date – Primary Source Verification (PSV) – thus enhancing the overall level of care within the healthcare sector and ultimately protecting global communities.
Contact us at sales@dataflowgroup.com and let us help you protect your community!
