‘Wholly incompetent and dishonest’ fake medical staff employed with help of Homerton biomedical scientist

Homerton Hospital: the former workplace of Francis Ajeneye. Photograph: David Holt

Two women, neither of whom had relevant qualifications or experience, were employed as medical staff due to false references given by another biomedical scientist who worked at Homerton Hospital, it has emerged.

In a High Court ruling, Titalayo Oyedele and Grace Oni were described as ‘wholly incompetent and dishonest’ by the judge, Mrs Justice McGowan.

Hospital bosses launched an investigation after it became clear the women could not do their jobs properly.

On one occasion, Ms Oyedele gave a patient the wrong type of blood, causing harm, albeit not permanent harm, to a patient.

Ms Oni had previously been employed as a hospital cleaner in Bristol.

The lack of competence on the part of both women soon became apparent and raised serious concerns at hospital level.

An investigation was launched into the nature of their employment applications and references.

Francis Ajeneye, who was a senior biochemist at Homerton Hospital until leaving the Trust in July 2013, gave references for Titalayo Oyedele and Grace Oni in 2013, falsely claiming they had worked with him before as biomedical scientists.

When challenged about the references, Mr Ajeneye failed to admit what he had done.

Ms Oyedele had not known Mr Ajeneye during the period specified in the reference he gave, whilst Ms Oni had never worked with Mr Ajeneye.

Mr Ajeneye was previously cautioned for five years after he admitted the references were inaccurate when brought before a disciplinary committee of the Health and Care Professions Council last August.

The committee said the caution would “sufficiently protect the public and the public interest” and allow Mr Ajeneye to keep working as a biomedical scientist.

It pointed out that the misconduct was “only in respect of two references”, and there was no evidence Mr Ajeneye had benefitted personally.

But the Professional Standards Authority, which helps to protect the public through its work with organisations that register and regulate people working in health and social care, appealed the committee’s decision.

At a High Court hearing in April, Mrs Justice McGowan ruled Mr Ajeneye was “too leniently sanctioned”.

In the hearing that followed in April, Mrs Justice McGowan ruled that Mr Ajeneye’s caution was not commensurate with the scale of his misconduct.

“It was two acts of dishonesty in combination with a dishonest attempt to place blame elsewhere,” said the judge, referring to Mr Adeneye’s claim that an employment agency had written the reference and that he had simply failed to check it before adding his signature.

The judge ruled that “the damage caused to the public interest is evident in the harm caused to one patient and the manifest risk to which others were exposed.”

She added it was obvious that public confidence would be harmed by “two wholly incompetent and dishonest individuals” being given jobs as health professionals with the “assistance and connivance” of Mr Ajeneye.

The five year caution was therefore too lenient.

The judge asked the Professional Standards Authority and the Health and Care Professions Council to write to the court with suggestions of more suitable sanctions for Mr Ajeneye.

This article was amended at 15.35 on Wednesday 15 June 2016. The original article stated that Titalayo Oyedele and Grace Oni were employed by Homerton Hospital. In fact, they were employed at hospitals other than the Homerton. The article now clarifies that Francis Ajeneye no longer works at Homerton Hospital.