Paramedic Natalie Twomey’s lie about sick sister uncovered by Facebook pictures | EUROtoday

A paramedic has been struck off after an expert tribunal discovered she fabricated a household sickness to safe a break day, together with her deception uncovered by her sister’s social media posts.

Natalie Twomey emailed her London Ambulance Service (LAS) bosses claiming that her sister’s well being had “deteriorated again” and he or she wanted to drive to Norfolk.

However, LAS employees found pictures on her sister’s Facebook account of her home embellished for Christmas, posted that very same day.

A panel deemed this “inconsistent” with the sister being so in poor health that Ms Twomey wanted to go to her.

The Health and Care Professions Tribunal’s written judgment acknowledged Ms Twomey informed a “lie” to “mislead” her employer, calling it “deceit” for “personal gain.”

The panel was informed that Ms Twomey despatched an electronic mail to her bosses on 28 November 2022 saying: “I’ve had to phone in sick, my sister has deteriorated again and had to drive back to Norfolk to be with her.”

The panel heard that the LAS found a submit on Ms Twomey’s sister’s Facebook account which contained footage of a home embellished for Christmas on 28 November.

When the paramedic was requested in regards to the posts throughout a functionality assembly in April 2023, she mentioned that her sister was in an ITU (intensive remedy unit) and that her sister’s husband was accountable for posts made on his spouse’s Facebook account.

The panel discovered that Ms Twomey knew her sister was not sick on 28 November, and mentioned she had “deliberately provided misleading information to her employer to excuse her absence from work”.

“The message conveyed by the photographs of Christmas decorations was inconsistent with the registrant’s sister being sick to the extent that the registrant had to drive to Norfolk to be with her, rather than attend to her responsibilities at work,” they discovered.

The paramedic was faraway from front-line duties in June 2023 after she attended work whereas smelling of alcohol.

But it was heard that whereas renewing her registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) regulator, she didn’t inform them that restrictions had been positioned upon her apply.

Ms Twomey additionally despatched an electronic mail to the LAS’s recruitment division to debate a secondment and claimed that the rationale she was on non-patient going through duties was resulting from a again and knee harm.

The paramedic additionally offered false info regarding her working hours in 2023.

Ms Twomey was dismissed from the LAS on the finish of 2023 resulting from her “capability and failure to attend work regularly”.

The panel heard that in a job interview afterwards, she claimed she had by no means been topic to any disciplinary hearings, and had by no means been dismissed.

She additionally mentioned that there have been no excellent investigations in opposition to her regardless of being conscious there was an ongoing HCPC investigation into her health to practise.

While enterprise duties as a paramedic at a police investigation centre in April 2024, a police officer smelt alcohol on her breath and he or she was required to supply a breath check.

The paramedic had arrived on the website by automobile and he or she was arrested and cautioned.

Ms Twomey was convicted of a driving offence at Ipswich Magistrates’ Court in April 2024 after pleading responsible to driving a motorized vehicle over the prescribed restrict.

The panel discovered that Ms Twomey’s conduct was “sufficiently serious to amount to misconduct”, and eliminated her identify from the register.

“The panel concluded that the appropriate and proportionate sanction in this case was a Striking Off Order,” they mentioned.