While sentencing, the judge said ‘You lied to occupational health, your colleagues and your employer. The public doesn’t expect doctors to lie for personal gain.’
A former South London doctor has been jailed for three years after pleading guilty to defrauding the NHS out of more than £268,000 by working for extra hospital trusts for extra pay while claiming he was too sick to do his actual job. Richard Akinrolabu, 61, of Orpington, was caught after working on-call and night shifts at three additional trusts.
Akinrolabu received his sentence at Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday (November 4), having previously pleaded guilty to four counts of Fraud by False Representation at the same court in September. Akinrolabu had been employed as a trust grade specialist registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology – a type of resident doctor formerly known as a junior doctor – by the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) in Orpington, Bromley, which forms part of King’s College Hospitals (KCH) NHS Foundation Trust.
Between October 2018 and December 2021, he worked on-call and night shifts at three additional trusts, despite informing his employer that he was unfit to do the same work for them. He worked these shifts whilst on sick leave or on reduced duties from King’s College Hospital.
As well as paying Dr Akinrolabu his full salary, the trust had to employ locums to cover these shifts. In November 2021, KCH received information stating that Akinrolabu had been working night shifts at Basildon Hospital. Investigations by the trust’s local counter fraud team found that he had worked a number of on-call shifts there.
The trust and NHSCFA investigators then obtained witness evidence which revealed that Akinrolabu had worked at Princess Alexandra Hospital, East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust and Mid-South Essex NHS Foundation Trust whilst on reduced duties from KCH.
KCH provided evidence which confirmed that he had neither sought nor received permission to carry out secondary employment. Timesheet and payroll information obtained from the other three trusts showed that the majority of shifts that he had worked were at night and on-call, despite claiming to be unfit to do either.
In June 2022, the local counter fraud team interviewed Akinrolabu under caution, during which he gave a “no comment” response. Following further investigation by the NHSCFA, he was subsequently charged with four counts of Fraud by False Representation.
In sentencing, His Honour Judge David Miller said: “You lied to occupational health, your colleagues and your employer. The public doesn’t expect doctors to lie for personal gain.”
Ben Harrison, Head of Operations at the NHS Counter Fraud Authority, said: “This case demonstrates a clear and deliberate abuse of trust by an NHS professional who knowingly breached the conditions of his employment for personal gain. By working additional on-call and night shifts, despite being unfit to do so, Akinrolabu defrauded the NHS of substantial funds that should have supported patient care.
“The NHS Counter Fraud Authority will continue to ensure that those who seek to exploit the health service for their own benefit are identified and brought to justice.”
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