Wellington Nurse Struck Off Nursing Register After Forging Practicing Certificate

A Wellington nurse who forged her practising certificate and lied to try and get a job has been struck off the nursing register. In October this year the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal heard the case of Prabhdeep Kaur who lied to a potential employer and tampered with her Annual Practising Certificate.

Kaur was not present at the hearing.

A registered nurse at the time, Kaur applied for a job at Wellington Hospital on Ward 5 South under acting charge nurse Stuart Whitaker. In May 2016 Kaur was offered the job, subject to providing verification of her registration status and entitlement to practise.

Kaur firstly only sent Whitaker the front page of her Annual Practising Certificate, then when he said he needed both sides she sent him a doctored version of the back. At this point, Whitaker had already accessed the Nursing Council’s register and saw that there were conditions on her scope of practice.

He raised this with her and questioned why the information on the register didn’t correspond to the reverse side of the Annual Practising Certificate she had sent him. She said she must have sent him a copy of an earlier document inadvertently.

Whitaker consulted with the Council and the offer of employment to the practitioner was withdrawn.

One of the conditions on her scope of practise was due to an incident with a former employer.

One 2014 they notified the Nursing Council with concerns about her conduct and her health.

Therefore a condition of Kaur’s nursing registration was that she had to advise any prospective employers to contact the Council before they could be approved as an employer.

“The practitioner (Kaur) not only failed to observe a condition on her scope of practice, that is to say a condition obliging her to inform any prospective employer of the qualifications on her right to practise, by failing to inform Mr Whitaker of those conditions, but was actively dishonest in the process and attempted to deceive him,” the Tribunal decision said.

“The decision said the Tribunal regards the practitioner’s (Kaur’s) conduct as very serious. It is entirely unacceptable for a nurse deliberately to set out to deceive a prospective employer by providing false information as to his or her registration details and entitlement to practise.”

“Such action puts the public at risk, is well below the standards expected of a nurse and diminishes the reputation of the profession as a whole.”

Kaur has had her nursing registration cancelled and she has been ordered to pay costs of $9824 (N3,531,72.
By: Charlotte Carter
Source: New Zeland Herald