UK paramedic loses job after lying about family sickness to skip work on Christmas

A British emergency worker has been struck off for dishonesty, including falsely telling her bosses her sister was in intensive care so she could have Christmas Day off.

Paramedic Natalie Twomey emailed her employer, the London Ambulance Service (LAS), on November 28, 2022, claiming her sister’s health had “deteriorated again” and she needed to travel out of town to be by her side.

But the truth was uncovered when LAS staff noticed a Facebook post the same day showing her supposedly critically ill sister’s house decked out with Christmas decorations, the Independent reported.

Metro also reported Twomey shared a Facebook memory of a previous trip to Mexico with her sister, captioned, “Eight days until this paradise again”.

Twomey was removed from frontline duties in June 2023 after arriving at work smelling of alcohol, the Independent reported.

She was dismissed from her role in November 2023 for “capability and failure to attend work regularly”.

When trying to renew her registration, she failed to tell the Health and Care Professional Tribunal Service (HCPTS) she had been restricted from practising.

British media report that in a subsequent job interview, Twomey claimed she had never been subject to any disciplinary hearings, nor been dismissed.

Twomey was arrested in April 2024 and pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle while over the prescribed limit.

The case was then taken to an HCPTS tribunal, which ordered her to be struck off the paramedics register.

“The panel concluded that the appropriate and proportionate sanction in this case was a striking off order,” it said.

“It was deliberate dishonesty, for personal gain, sustained over a period of time between November 28, 2022, and March 20, 2024, and involved 10 individual findings of dishonesty, involving two employers and the regulator.

“The panel considered that Ms Twomey’s attitude is long-standing and deep-seated.”

The Mirror reported Twomey has since secured a hospital role as a health support worker and has begun nursing studies.

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