Fraudster nurse said he worked in TV's ER
A fraudster got a job as a nurse after claiming he qualified as a doctor at the fictional hospital in American TV drama series, ER.
Greig Ferguson said he worked at the County General Hospital in Chicago.
Although he had qualified as a nurse at the University of Portsmouth in 2002, Ferguson decided to get creative with his CV in order to improve his job prospects and claimed he was a doctor.
In his application for the position of emergency nurse practitioner at St Mary's treatment centre, in Milton, Portsmouth, Ferguson also said he had worked as an operational medic in the Royal Marines, seeing action in Bosnia, Northern Ireland and the Gulf. Again this was a lie.
Ferguson's work of fiction landed him the job in September 2007 and he stayed until October 2008.
He could often be seen walking the centre's corridors with a badge marked: 'Dr Greig Ferguson MD ENP', the court heard.
His deceit only came to light when he was being treated by a consultant who became suspicious of his claims and decided to breach patient confidentiality to inform employer, Care UK.
The 35-year-old, now a handyman of Campbeltown in Scotland, has been ordered to do 150 hours' community service after appearing in Portsmouth Crown Court, where he pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud.
In court Ferguson's barrister Robert Bryant compared him to Jeffrey Archer, the disgraced MP who was jailed in 2001 for perjury and perverting the course of justice.
Addressing the judge, the defence barrister said: 'I know not whether your honour is, or was, ever a devotee of a certain Channel 4 drama but the hospital on his CV in Chicago was the hospital starring in ER.'
He added: 'There can be few people in this country who at one stage or another have not inflated or said something to increase their standing, whether it's with a work colleague, whether it's to impress a potential girlfriend or her parents or whether it's perhaps to do what Jeffrey Archer did, to make themselves seem better, because that's all this man did.'
ALL CHECKS CARRIED OUT
Care UK said it carried out the necessary checks on Greig Ferguson and when it became clear he had lied they sacked him.
Spokeswoman Nicky Hawes said: 'As part of routine checks on his qualifications, Care UK was able to verify that Mr Ferguson had a nursing degree from the University of Portsmouth and was registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. References taken up from three previous employers confirmed that his clinical experience was suitable for this role.
'At the time of interview, Mr Ferguson also claimed to have more extensive qualifications including paramedic experience with the US army.
'These additional overseas qualifications were not considered necessary for the post so were not investigated. We now know that these claims are false.
'I'm satisfied that Mr Ferguson's verified qualifications and experience made him a suitable candidate for the post of junior nurse practitioner. He worked in the Minor Injuries Unit for just over a year and in that time, clearly had the skills and knowledge to undertake the role.
'However, once it became apparent that he had lied to us about other qualifications, we had no alternative but to dismiss him.'
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Friday 25 May 2012
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