Nurse struck off faking letters for school place

A nurse has been struck off after faking medical letters from a deceased doctor to try to secure a school place for a child.

Johanna Phillips, from Surrey, also threatened a school staff member who reported her, a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) fitness to practise committee heard.

She was removed from the nursing register after the committee ruled she acted dishonestly, failed to take responsibility for her actions and failed to show genuine remorse.

The disciplinary panel said her behaviour "seriously damaged public trust" and raised "fundamental questions" about her professionalism.

The panel said her behaviour could not be fixed through retraining and was "fundamentally incompatible" with staying in nursing.

The case emerged in May 2022 when a school medical centre manager spotted a letter supposedly written by a doctor who had died a year earlier.

Police were informed but took no further action, according to Local Democracy Reporting Service.

An NMC investigation found Phillips had altered an old medical letter from 2017, changed dates, created a new fake document and submitted both to a school.

During a police interview, she admitted changing the dates, saying she was "stressed" and "running out of options".

The ruling said: "She deliberately altered important medical information to mislead the school.

"An ordinary person would consider her actions dishonest."

The hearing also heard how Phillips confronted a school staff member after the letters were reported and threatened to "ruin" her and "make her pay".

The panel said Phillips failed to take meaningful steps to improve her behaviour or demonstrate real insight.

They said her refusal to fully accept responsibility and her attempts to blame others showed the concerns had not been addressed.

Presenting the case, NMC lawyer Naa-Adjeley Barnor said the deception was "premeditated, calculated and sustained".

Phillips had been a registered nurse since 2002.

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