NHS worker jailed over pay fraud

A woman who admitted defrauding NHS Scotland of almost £40,000 has been jailed for eight months.

Joanne Jamieson, 40, from Glasgow, claimed for hours she had never worked as a cleaner and administrative assistant at the city's Stobhill Hospital.

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard that her scam was discovered when management questioned a budget overspend.

Jailing Jamieson, Sheriff Daniel Convery said that she was guilty of "systematic dishonesty".

At an earlier hearing, Jamieson, from the city's Springburn area, admitted defrauding £37,865.60 from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde between April 2006 and July 2008.

The court heard how she had started working as a cleaner at the hospital in August 2002.

She then became a part-time administration assistant in January 2004, but also carried on working occasionally as a cleaner.

The court heard that each week she would fill out a form detailing the extra cleaning hours she had worked.

After the form had been authorised by her line manager, Jamieson would add hours which she had not worked.

The offences only came to light when an audit was carried out at the hospital in 2008 after a budget overspend.

Passing sentence, Sheriff Convery said: "This was a serious breach of trust which would have had significant consequences on the front line public service you defrauded.

"In view of the gravity of the offence, a custodial sentence is in my view inevitable."