A GWENT accident and emergency doctor claimed nearly £30,000 in sick pay while working as a £800-a-day locum in England, a court heard.

While on fully-paid leave from her job at the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, doctor Lucy Dawson is alleged to have worked ten shifts at hospitals in Worcester and Gloucester, earning £7,840.

Newport Crown Court heard yesterday that 45-yearold Dawson was signed off from work with stress and depression, but said on social networking site Twitter how she was earning “megabucks” and “a stupid amount of dosh”.

The court was told she also mocked the NHS for paying her double to cover posts they couldn’t fill permanently and tweeted about drinking wine and things like “nightshift Monday, debauchery Tuesday”.

The court heard Dawson of The Narth, Monmouth, also tweeted about her employer the Aneurin Bevan Health Board, saying “they lie and bully people”, adding she couldn’t work for people she wanted to kill.

She denies two counts of fraud by failing to disclose information, which relate to two periods of sick leave between October 13 and 23, 2009, and November 9, 2009, to May 14, 2010.

Prosecutor Carl Harrison said Dawson was employed by what is now the Aneurin Bevan Health Board since 1989 and worked at the Royal Gwent as an associated specialist in A&E – a senior staff member assisting juniors and emergency practitioners.

Dawson went on her first sickness leave in October 2009 claiming she had a “very bad head”, but earned £520 from an eight-hour shift at Worcestershire Royal Hospital through an agency.

Despite returning to work, Dawson went on sick leave again in November citing depression and stress. But, between March and May 2010, she worked a further nine shifts at Worcestershire Royal Hospital and Hereford County Hospital, earning up to £840 for a 12-hour shift.

Mr Harrison said that as well as paying Dawson’s £29,320 sick leave for six months, the Aneurin Bevan Health Board had to pay around £36,000 for locums to fill her role.

He added the alleged deception was discovered when clinical director of A&E Nicholas Jenkins drewattention to the tweets.

Dawson resigned on May 14, 2010, as her sick leave pay was about to drop to half her salary.

Proceeding.

Defendant ‘depressed’

DEFENCE barrister Alun Jenkins maintained Dawson was depressed and stressed about what was going on at work, after “issues made the air poisonous”.

He said Dawson was in a relationship with Nicholas Jenkins which ended in 2006, leading to an “ongoing dispute between the two”.

He also said things got “out of control” after Dawson ‘blew the whistle” on a colleague who “had failed to do what they should”.