A MICROBIOLOGIST employed by the trust in charge of south Cumbria's hospitals worked two jobs at the same time during the Covid lockdown, a tribunal heard.

Dr Kate Ogah worked across hospitals in the Morecambe Bay NHS Trust and took on agency work on her days off for extra money, a fitness to practise hearing was told.

But when the country plunged into lockdown and she was working from home, Dr Ogah took on extra shifts at the Blackpool Teaching Hospitals Trust.

The tribunal heard she worked shifts for both organisations at the same time, using separate computers.

She admitted that between April 2020 and July 2021 she worked agency shifts for the Blackpool Trust at the same time as her work for the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS trust.

During that time she worked 94 shifts for both trusts on the same days and was said to have been paid more than £25,000 for those shifts, which the tribunal heard had been paid back.

According to documents released from the tribunal, she was able to carry out her work to the required standard.

But she did not make either trust aware she was working simultaneously, the tribunal heard.

However, the tribunal found there was no attempt by Dr Ogah to disguise working simultaneously for two employers, with the time sheets she submitted to BTH matching the hours she was working under contract. 

The panel found Dr Ogah was experienced in multitasking and was prepared to work very hard in a focused way, did not consider herself to be 'moonlighting' or acting in a way that undermined the service she was providing under her contract.

The tribunal heard when it was put to her in disciplinary meetings that what she was doing was wrong, she was 'devastated' and offered to pay back the money.

Summarising the case, tribunal papers said: "The Tribunal have not been provided with any compelling evidence that Dr Ogah’s intention was to deliberately defraud the NHS.

"It finds it unlikely that she would commit fraud of that scale and not try to manipulate the audit trail such as her locum time sheets.

"She herself created this record and told no lies about what she was doing."

Panel chair Morag Rea said: "The Tribunal found that Dr Ogah is an experienced and hard-working doctor who is passionate about her profession.

"The Tribunal found that she was unlikely to jeopardise her long standing career by attempting to defraud her employers in a time of crisis but rather that she was naïve and negligent in her approach to form filling and administration."

The panel found her fitness to practise was not impaired and did not make any sanctions.