Paramedic struck off after falsely claiming her sister was ill to miss work

Natalie Twomey emailed bosses to say that she could not attend work because her sister’s health had “deteriorated again” and she needed to drive to Norfolk to be with her, a professional tribunal heard.

Staff at the London Ambulance Service (LAS) however discovered pictures of festive decorations on her sibling’s Facebook account, which a panel said was “inconsistent” with her being sick to the extent that Ms Twomey needed to be with her.

A written judgment from the Health and Care Professions Tribunal said that Ms Twomey had told the “lie” to “mislead” her employer, adding that this “deceit” was for her personal gain.

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The panel was told that Ms Twomey sent an email to her bosses on November 28 2022 stating: “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 discovered a post on Ms Twomey’s sister’s Facebook account which contained pictures of a house decorated for Christmas on November 28.

When the paramedic was asked about the posts during a capability meeting in April 2023, she said that her sister was in an ITU (intensive therapy unit) and that her sister’s husband was responsible for posts made on his wife’s Facebook account.

The panel found that Ms Twomey knew her sister was not sick on November 28, and said 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 found.

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

But it was heard that while renewing her registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) regulator, she did not inform them that restrictions had been placed upon her practice.

Ms Twomey also sent an email to the LAS’s recruitment department to discuss a secondment and claimed that the reason she was on non-patient facing duties was due to a back and knee injury.

The paramedic also provided false information relating to her working hours in 2023.

Ms Twomey was dismissed from the LAS at the end of 2023 due to her “capability and failure to attend work regularly”.

The panel heard that during a job interview afterwards, she claimed she had never been subject to any disciplinary hearings, and had never been dismissed.

She also said that there were no outstanding investigations against her despite being aware there was an ongoing HCPC investigation into her fitness to practise.

While undertaking duties as a paramedic at a police investigation centre in April 2024, a police officer smelt alcohol on her breath and she was required to provide a breath test.

The paramedic had arrived at the site by car and she was arrested and cautioned.

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

The panel found that Ms Twomey’s conduct was “sufficiently serious to amount to misconduct”, and removed her name from the register.

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