A NURSE whose career was backed by a royal charity has escaped punishment after moonlighting while signed off sick.
Nursing assistant Jan Frampton was given a research fellowship worth up to £20,000 by the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland (QNIS).
But the NHS 24 worker claimed sick pay for over two months while working three days a week at a health centre in North Lanarkshire.
Despite her lack of “openness and transparency”, a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) panel decided Ms Frampton was still fit to practise and should not be punished.
The hearing in Edinburgh this week found proved a charge that Ms Frampton “claimed sick pay from NHS 24 from 6 December 2007 to 15 February 2008, whilst continuing to work as a health visitor at Kilsyth Health Centre in Lanarkshire”.
Announcing its decision, chairman Brian Yates said: “She demonstrated a type of behaviour which fell short of the expectation of a registered nurse. She showed a surprising lack of openness and transparency.
“She didn’t act out of dishonesty but showed a lack of understanding and there was a lack of propriety in relation to Ms Frampton.”
He said the panel considered no patient was directly harmed by her actions and said: “The panel found no evidence that her practice was unsatisfactory in relation to patient care.”
He continued: “The panel finds Ms Frampton’s fitness to Practice was not impaired.”
Two other charges, of altering a medical certificate and being dishonest, were found not proven by the NMC panel.
Ms Frampton was not present at the hearing and was not represented.
The hearing was told that she no longer wanted to practice as a nurse.
The same year Ms Frampton worked while sick, she was given the Lisbeth Hockey Community Nursing Research Fellowship by QNIS, which aims to improve nursing care in people’s homes.
The award, worth around £20,000 over two years, was given to her to research community nursing for two days a week.
Ms Frampton was unable to complete the research fellowship, after running out of time to complete her research.
The NMC panel’s decision today comes just months after Glasgow nurse Dianne Barhoumi was suspended for a year after being caught moonlighting.
She earned around £2,000 working as a bank nurse for 14 days while signed off sick.
