How Lucius Njoku's double daring life outsmarted an entire UK hospital

[Imnobody4]

Another NHS failure. The source is PM Nigeria. Thought it would make a change from Daily Mail.

https://share.google/gwObhxAbiDFyvoCaN
For more than two months, Njoku, 33, worked as a healthcare assistant at the Countess of Chester Hospital, posing as a woman identified as Joyce George, who had been legitimately hired through an agency. His deception went unnoticed by management and staff until a patient casually remarked that “Joyce” was, in fact, a man.
Njoku, who now works at Vauxhalls and depends on his wife for support, walked out of court a free man, but with a conviction that has made headlines across Cheshire.Meanwhile, UK authorities have issued a warrant for the arrest of Joyce George, believed to still be in Nigeria.

Another source:

Chester judge told Nigerian man he deceived people over work | Chester and District Standard https://share.google/qRBj79AmGRRBEOx2X

I do wonder if this is a side effect of self id. You’re not really allowed to question who people say they are so you develop a kind of self protective blindness. After all we’ve had high up NHS staff say they don’t know what sex they are as not had chromosome testing etc.

In that sort of environment you don’t readily stick your head above the parapet as will be labelled and punished.

I had to read that through several times. 🤯

Now I'm left with a sneaky feeling of admiration for the real Joyce George. "It's perfectly safe, Lucius. They'll all be too terrified to ask."

I don't think he was posing as a woman or transwoman. He was a man posing as Joyce George. Maybe he got away with it for a while because people don't look at name badges or the picture was poor quality. But being Nigerian probably helped, because people might just blame their own ignorance about Nigerian naming conventions, but they'd know its a very eccentric name for a white British man.

Also just realised they might have thought he's called George!

I'd like to know at what point he took over. Did he use her ID card once it had been issued, or did he show up from the start and get an ID card in her name? Either way it's a huge security failure.

There's obviously very concerning safeguarding failures if the NHS hasn't got a clue, or care, who is on the wards caring for patients.

According to the story on the LBC website

"Inquiries revealed [Joyce] George, 32, also a Nigerian national living in nearby Ellesmere Port, obtained a job at the hospital via an outside agency after a successful interview.

The nurse allowed Njoku to do her shifts under her name. It is not clear where he obtained his NHS uniform.

Police raided George's home and found Njoku at the address.

Mobile phones taken from both suspects showed an exchange of text messages relating to shifts at the Countess.(sic)."

The story also says that he wore Joyce George:s name badge which had a clear photograph on it.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/male-migrant-female-nurse-letby-hospital-nhs-crime-5HjdFdS_2/

They vetted someone and photographed her, and issued a badge and swipe card. If they'd been the same sex, or her name had been Fred, what's the mechanism for anyone else on the ward to notice he's an imposter, if he takes all her shifts? Worrying.

ETA I see a PP posted that the photo was clear. So, other staff don't look at the photos!

I assume posing as a woman was a necessary part of the subterfuge as they were expecting a female employee surely? If they were assuming Joyce was a man then it wouldn’t of raised a red flag for it to be pointed out by a patient.

I’ve had to clock in using handprint scanners before. In a hotel not MI5. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for NHS staff to have to have identity verified with biometrics.

I did watch a drama on channel 4 a sbout a nurse who faked being a doctor recently and I did think everyone should hsve to prove who they are.

Here's a story about how easy it can be to fool people who aren't looking,

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1983/03/01/magicians-score-a-hit-on-scientific-researchers/1f374c34-4979-4dba-a2e5-48bea6bda5f6/

Should be noted that self id and GRC isn't directly implicated. Without either, it's easy enough to change your name to be a female sounding one via deed poll and have ids issued in the opposite sex via HR. Yes, even with a full beard and no attempt to transition.

The real question is: is biological sex significant or is it pretend. If you can simply change it through HR, it's pretend, and pretend in all instances not just for matters of cutesy. The UK continues to try and sit on the fence about this. And refuses to address the impact of sex becoming pretend. (i.e. by being easily falsifiable by those for whom it would be most significant).

A bigger question, was he even a qualified HC assistant? The article doesn’t mention it.

The stories I've read describe him as working as a "healthcare assistant" and the LBC story says he "washed and dressed patients and carried out observations".

Joyce George is described as an "agency nurse", but was she / is she a qualified nurse? And was she taken on through the agency as a healthcare assistant rather than a nurse?

HAs don't need qualifications to get a job, though they have to complete the Care Certificate during their first 3 months at work - though I suppose someone believed to be a qualified nurse working as an HA might not need to.

I understand he is qualified, plus they're doing a retrospective dbs check, but that's hardly the point. Why wasn't he noticed? (But, are nurses rostered by sex as well as name?)

He presents male, with a beard, so when challenged by a patient about his mis-matching badge, he really only had the choice of "Joyce is a traditional man's name where I come from, you racist", or "I'm trans like that lovely Alex Hammond, you transphobe". I suppose it's just as well he wasn't quick-witted enough to come up with either....

This is absolutely shocking and makes a mockery of all of the much vaunted DBS and security checking supposed to guarantee patient safety.

This pair were clearly massively inept - a man posing as a woman was BOLD, but I now wonder how many unvetted and maybe unqualified foreign nurses we have in the NHS. It would be much harder for a lifelong or long term UK resident to pull this fraud as there are NI numbers/UK bank details etc which should be a preventative.

This is absolutely shocking and makes a mockery of all of the much vaunted DBS and security checking supposed to guarantee patient safety.

You might be the only person who had any faith the the DBS process ...

What's to stop a lifelong or long term UK resident, with an NI number and UK bank details, from getting a job then letting a friend do their shifts, as happened here? The pay presumably went into George's account and she passed it on.

It would leave the friend in a tricky situation with income/HMRC etc. What would the friend be living on? They couldn’t claim unemployment benefit and presumably HMRC would be involved somehow. They seem to know everything.

Our traceability within the UK is far greater than a person who has done all their adult registrations abroad.

Obviously we have set up some great avenues for fraud in the UK - but it currently requires a slightly higher level of commitment.