Nurse jailed for £10k sick notes scam

A NURSE who doctored sick notes for a sore toe to scam morE than £10,000 from NHS Lothian is in jail. Martin McLelland, 42, changed dates on sick lines from doctors while off work in 2008-2009.

But McLelland was caught, sacked and now faces being struck off the nursing register.

Livingston Sheriff Court jailed him for four months after he admitted operating a fraudulent scheme. The psychiatric nurse was working at St John's Hospital in Livingston when he began suffering from jaw pain and an infected toe. He took time off in 2008 and was given proper certificates for his absence by GPs.

But McLelland altered dates on the documents so that he could extend his time off from November 2008 until 2009. He used the falsified medical certificates to claim 10,482.15 in sick pay.

His lawyer, Iain Smith, insisted his client had not benefited from the scam, as he would have been given new sick lines based on his injuries and illness. He said McLelland, from Livingston, could not remember changing the dates but accepted that he had.