A Kingston doctor has been struck off after stealing £45,000 from the NHS during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kifayat Ullah falsely claimed wages for hours he had not worked while he was an agency doctor, specialising in ear, nose and throat services, at Kingston Hospital.

Dr Ullah, who was contracted through recruitment agency MedicsPro, falsely claimed he had worked 658 extra hours between November 2020 and June 2021 using up to 28 forged timesheets.

He was overpaid by £45,402, which resulted in Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust losing £51,982 including agency fees.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) found Dr Ullah's fitness to practise was impaired due to his conviction, after a hearing held over five days in July and August.

It decided to strike his name from the medical register, meaning he can no longer work as a doctor.

As part of his role at the hospital, Dr Ullah had to record the date and hours he had worked after each shift on timesheets.

These were signed off by the hospital and sent to MedicsPro, who paid him.

As he was on a zero-hour contract, he was only entitled to be paid for the hours he worked – at a rate of £69 per hour.

Medics Pro would charge Kingston NHS Trust £79 per hour to include its fees.

Dr Ullah submitted eight timesheets between November 2020 and February 2021 and logged an extra 208.5 hours which he had not worked.

He completed 13 timesheets between February and June 2021 and recorded a further 288 hours that he had not worked.

Finally, he submitted six timesheets between March and June 2021, which falsely claimed an extra 161.5 hours that he had not worked.

The doctor forged signatures of managers on the timesheets to claim for the hours he had not worked.

He pled guilty to making a false instrument with the intention of it being accepted as genuine at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court on December 5, 2023.

Dr Ullah was sentenced to 24 months imprisonment suspended for 24 months at Kingston Crown Court on January 8, 2024.

He was told to pay compensation of £51,902 and a victim surcharge of £156, along with carrying out 250 hours of unpaid work and a rehabilitation activity for 25 days.

He has since paid the compensation, victim surcharge and prosecution costs of around £5,000.

The judge, sentencing Mr Ullah, said his actions were motivated by greed.

He said: "It seems to me also of relevance is this was misuse of public funds.

"It was over a period of about seven months and everyone who reads the news or watches the news will know that the one organisation that cannot afford to lose large sums of money is the NHS because monies which are wrongly taken from that organisation is depriving those monies from going towards caring for the people of this country."

Jade Bucklow, of the General Medical Council (GMC), told the tribunal Dr Ullah's "dishonesty took place during the Covid-19 pandemic when the NHS was crippled", while he seemed to be living "an extremely privileged lifestyle".

She said he "defrauded the NHS trust out of money which could have been directed… towards patient care and services, or towards paying a member of staff to provide the care he was being paid for but not carrying out.

She added his actions showed an "extraordinary sense of entitlement" and that he had "breached the trust of the public, his employers and NHS colleagues".

Lee Gledhill, representing Dr Ullah, said the public could be confident he would not repeat the crime.

He told the tribunal Dr Ullah was highly regarded and his actions had been "out of character," as he stressed the public interest in keeping a "great doctor".

The tribunal ruled that, by his criminal conviction, Dr Ullah brought the medical profession "into disrepute".

It found his understanding of the impact his actions was not fully developed, which meant there was a low risk of repetition.

The MPTS report said Dr Ullah's "dishonesty had been persistent, and he had tried to cover it up on a number of occasions including when he was interviewed, also seeking to deflect blame onto colleagues".

It added: "Dr Ullah's interests are outweighed by the need to maintain public confidence in the profession and to declare and uphold proper professional standards of conduct and behaviour."

The tribunal ruled the "only appropriate sanction" was to erase Dr Ullah's name from the medical register.

Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and MedicsPro have been contacted for comment.