Locum Doctors Not Properly Screened

Wednesday, 4th November 2015 at 10:18am

An investigation by the BBC raises troubling questions about the risks an over-reliance on locums poses to patient safety.

A recent court case highlighted concerns that some NHS trusts and agencies were not doing the most basic pre-employment checks.

The case centred around Levon Mkhitarian who was jailed for six years after impersonating a doctor.

He’d worked as a locum in A&E departments, cardiology and cancer wards across south London and Kent for almost two years before finally being caught.

He used a false passport and other forged documents to assume a legitimate doctor’s identity. The recruitment agency that placed him in work failed to inspect the original documents – relying instead on photocopies, which masked the fact that had “cut and pasted” them together.

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