A Cardiff Crown Court has sentenced a woman with no medical qualifications for defrauding the United Kingdom’s National Health Service after she posed as a healthcare support worker using a fake identity.
Oluwabunmu Adeleiyi, a 30-year-old Nigerian national living in Cardiff on a student visa, worked illegally at Neath Port Talbot Hospital and the Caswell Clinic in Bridgend.
The court heard that she and two accomplices used the same false identification documents to claim about £16,000 monthly from the NHS through different employment agencies.
Adeleiyi pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud by false representation—two linked to the Port Talbot hospital and two to the medium secure mental health unit in Bridgend.
She was sentenced to ten months’ imprisonment on each count, to run concurrently, with the sentence suspended for two years.
The court also ordered her to complete 100 hours of unpaid community service.
The fraud was uncovered after a night shift at the Caswell Clinic, when a receptionist noticed that a passport photograph had been inserted into an ID card kept in a plastic wallet.
When questioned, Adeleiyi declined to submit her shift records, prompting the Swansea Bay University Health Board to declare a critical incident.
Investigations revealed what officials described as “bizarre” conduct during her shifts, including locking herself inside ward rooms and securing corridor doors that should have remained unlocked for safety reasons.
Despite having no training in restraint techniques, she had access to confidential patient records and made entries in observation notes.
Health officials told the court that the risks posed by her actions could have been catastrophic. The judge, Recorder Mark Powell KC, said Adeleiyi had placed both patients and staff in danger.
Further evidence showed that the false ID belonged to a registered healthcare support worker who later fled the UK to Nigeria using a fake passport.
Authorities said the identification documents were supplied by an overseas organised crime network.
Speaking after the judgment, the lead counter-fraud specialist at Swansea Bay University Health Board, Neil Jones, said the case underscored the NHS’s resolve to pursue fraud, particularly where vulnerable patients are involved.
He added that a review confirmed Adeleiyi had limited contact with patients and that no harm was recorded.
The case has renewed concerns about identity fraud and security checks within temporary healthcare staffing systems.