More than 700 frontline Nigerian NHS workers could be treating patients despite being under investigation for “industrial-scale” qualifications fraud, it was revealed today.
Regulators revealed in September that 48 nurses and midwives in the African nation were being investigated for paying someone to take a computer-based exam, which verifies medical knowledge and is necessary to work in the United Kingdom.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has now advised that a further 669 people who were tested at the testing center have applied to join its register.
Of the 80 applications it has reviewed so far, the vast majority have been rejected.
However, these people, who are qualified nurses and midwives in their home country, are still reported to work in the NHS or in care homes as healthcare assistants, which may involve carrying out medical checks, taking blood samples and sterilize equipment.
The regulator revealed in September that 48 nurses and midwives in the African nation were being investigated for paying someone to sit a computer-based exam, which verifies medical knowledge and is necessary to work in the UK.
Nurses and midwives wishing to work in Britain must complete assessments.
These include a computer-based multiple-choice test that checks your clinical and numeracy skills, which is usually completed in your home country and covers topics such as medication dosage calculations, followed by a practical test which is carried out in the UK.
Pearson VUE, the company that manages the IT element of the NMC, issued an alert in May about “anomalous data” coming from the Yunnik Technologies Test Center in Ibadan, southwestern Nigeria.
A subsequent investigation by the NMC found “widespread fraud” at the testing centre, based on assessment completion times being “statistically significantly faster” compared to other centers in Nigeria and around the world.
In September, 515 professionals registered with the NMC took their computer assessment at this centre, representing about five per cent of those in Nigeria.
The regulator believes that 48 of these people likely paid a proxy tester to perform the test on their behalf and, as a result, deemed all results on the Yunnik site invalid.
MailOnline revealed that dozens of these nurses were still working in the NHS.
These nurses were already working in the NHS when the scandal came to light and the NMC does not have the power to suspend them. However, he has told them to retake the computer test to prove they are competent.
Experts have warned that these workers pose a health risk to patients and that the situation highlights the dangers of the UK’s over-reliance on foreign nurses to fill staffing gaps.
The hearings, expected to begin next month, will result in a final decision and determine whether they should be removed from the register.
The NMC has now revealed that it has received 669 applications from nurses and midwives screened at the Yunnik center and is “reviewing each application carefully”.
This means that more than 700 nurses could be involved in the scandal.
The second group of 669 employees, most of whom have already arrived in the UK, are mostly nurses, while fewer than five are midwives. The Guardian reports.
However, as the NMC has not yet approved their applications, according to the newspaper, they mainly work as healthcare assistants in the NHS and in care homes.
The NMC said internationally educated nurses or midwives take on these unregulated roles, over which it has no power, as an interim step while they are in the process of applying for registration.
Around 80 nurses from this group re-sat their computer exam and applied to join the NMC to start working as nurses or midwives, but the regulator said it has “serious concerns” about their honesty and trustworthiness.
Andrea Sutcliffe, chief executive and registrar of the NMC, told The Guardian: “We have refused entry to the register for the vast majority of the 80 applications we have considered so far, and those people can appeal.”
She said: ‘Internationally trained nurses and midwives make an important contribution to our health and social care system.
‘However, our primary concern is to protect the public by maintaining the integrity of the record.
‘So when we were raised with concerns about the Yunnik testing centre, we investigated thoroughly and asked an independent expert to analyze the data.
According to estimates, a fifth of NHS staff in England are now foreign nationals. Three in 10 nurses and more than a third of doctors are non-UK residents – the first time this milestone has been reached.
The most common foreign nationality among nurses is Indian, accounting for 10.1 percent of all FTE nurses and health visitors, followed by Filipino, Nigerian and Irish. For doctors, Indian was the most common nationality outside the UK, accounting for 8 per cent of all doctors, followed by Pakistani, Egyptian and Nigerian.
‘This produced evidence of widespread fraudulent activity, isolated to the Yunnik site, where we suspect some people obtained their test results fraudulently.
“In each case, a carefully considered decision will be made about whether to remove those people from our register or reject their applications to join it.”
Peter Carter, former chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, told the newspaper: “It is very, very worrying if… there is an organization that is engaging in fraudulent activity, allowing nurses to bypass these tests, or if they are using substitutes to test them because the implication is that we will end up in the UK with nurses who are not competent.
He said the NMC’s action “will protect the quality of care and patient safety and the reputation of nurses”.
It comes after data this week revealed that a fifth of NHS staff in England are foreign nationals, which is the highest proportion since records began in 2009.
According to the latest available data from NHS Digital, a third of the 335,763 full-time equivalent (FTE) nurses and health visitors working in England in September whose nationality was known are foreign nationals.
The most common foreign nationality is Indian, accounting for 10.1 per cent of all FTE nurses and health visitors, followed by Filipino, Nigerian and Irish.
Health chiefs have warned that overseas recruiting cannot fill vacancies in the health service forever, arguing the figures reflect how much the NHS relies on international staff to prevent it from “caving under pressure”.
It comes after a Mail on Sunday investigation revealed that NHS staff at all levels are working remotely in countries including Australia and Japan.
At least 335 staff across 33 trusts have been able to work from a different country over the past two years, including consultants who can earn a basic salary of up to £126,000.