The experienced doctor ‘put his personal life before his employment obligations’
Montgomery County Infirmary(Image: Google)
A psychiatrist cheated the NHS by repeatedly working fewer hours than he claimed. Dr Anthony Odume must serve a six-week suspension over serious misconduct at Montgomery County Infirmary in Newtown, Powys.
The doctor, whose deception of his employer lasted almost three months, was at the time working as a locum consultant psychiatrist at the hospital. The chair of his medical tribunal, Sarah Hamilton, noted the doctor had been allowed “some flexibility” in his working pattern.
She accepted there had been an agreement with his line manager that Dr Odume did not have to work beyond 1pm on a Friday if he had already completed his contracted hours for the week and there were times when he could work remotely. But she found he “went beyond” the agreed flexibility and ended up “dishonestly claiming for hours which he did not work and failing to either attend or work remotely on numerous occasions”.
Dr Odume admitted he left work earlier than agreed on some Fridays, which he explained by pointing to “travel issues” and “a desire to reach home” by a certain time. The panel heard there were two Fridays when he failed to turn up for work at all.
The tribunal concluded he had “chosen to put his personal life before his employment obligations” without telling his line manager. Mrs Hamilton added: “Whilst Dr Odume may have felt that he had reasons to do so his actions were entirely inappropriate.”
Dr Odume’s misconduct took place between early November 2021 and late January 2022 while working with the hospital’s Fan Gorau community mental health team. During that time he claimed payment from Powys Teaching Health Board for his contracted weekly hours despite not completing them.
The psychiatrist qualified from the University of Benin, Nigeria, in 1988 and registered to practice in the UK in 2001. His barrister Gavin Irwin pointed out he had no other regulatory findings against him in decades of practice.
Mr Irwin said it was never his client’s intention to defraud but he had fallen into “bad habits” because of his “personal circumstances at the time”. The barrister also argued there were times when Dr Odume worked excess hours for which he did not claim payment.
The tribunal heard Dr Odume had received a “broad range” of glowing references from healthcare professionals. This year he has been working at the Avon and Wiltshire mental health partnership where one of his colleagues praised him as “always willing to share his experience and knowledge and to offer supervision to colleagues”.
Harriet Tighe, representing the General Medical Council, said the doctor should be suspended because his “persistent” misconduct involved financial dishonesty against the NHS and “breached the trust that the public and employers place in its doctors”.
Mrs Hamilton noted the doctor had “accepted his wrongdoing, that he was dishonest, and had expressed remorse and apologised from the outset and as soon as he was challenged about it”.
She added: “He had also acknowledged the impact of his actions and reimbursed the overpayments which he had dishonestly claimed.”
Dr Odume told the tribunal he now records “the actual times worked on a Friday” on a timesheet which is submitted to his locum agency.
Mrs Hamilton said: “He is in debt due to his personal circumstances and there has been a recent reduction in his hourly locum rate.
“He stated that, as a result, the children and young adults he supports in their education would face difficulties were he to be suspended as he would be unable to provide them with this financial support.”
The tribunal panel concluded it was “in the public interest to keep competent doctors in practice”. They imposed a six-week suspension of Dr Odume’s registration as a medical practitioner.