More than 700 Nigerian nurses taking part in qualifications fraud could be working in the NHS

More than 700 frontline NHS workers from Nigeria could be treating patients despite being under investigation for ’industrial-scale’ qualifications fraud, it was revealed today. Regulators revealed in September that 48 nurses and midwives from the African nation were being investigated for paying someone to a sit computer-based exam, which checks medical knowledge and is needed to work in the UK. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has now warned a further 669 individuals who were assessed at the test centre have applied to join its register. Of the 80 applications it has so far checked, the vast majority have been rejected. However, these individuals, who are qualified nurses and midwives in their home country, are reportedly still working in the NHS or care homes as healthcare assistants, which can involve performing health checks, taking blood samples and sterilising equipment. Nurses and midwives hoping to work in Britain must complete assessments. These include a computer-based, multiple-choice test that checks their clinical and numeracy skills, which is usually completed in their home country and covers topics like drug dosage calculations, followed by a practical test that is taken in the UK. Pearson VUE, the company that runs the computer element for the NMC, issued an alert in May about ’anomalous data’ coming from the Yunnik Technologies Test Centre in Ibadan, south west Nigeria. A subsequent NMC investigation uncovered ’widespread fraud’ at the test centre, based on assessment completion times being ’statistically significantly quicker’ compared to other centres in Nigeria and globally. As of September, 515 professionals on the NMC register took their computer assessment at this centre — representing around five per cent of those from Nigeria. The regulator believes that 48 of these people likely paid a proxy tester to take the test on their behalf and, as a result, deemed all results from the Yunnik site as invalid. Join this channel to get access to perks: