An NHS nurse has been struck off the professional register after faking a pregnancy and the death of her own father to secure time off work.
A tribunal heard that Laura Colbeck told the “highly emotive” lies purely to avoid her duties.
The nurse falsely claimed to be pregnant for two months, citing morning sickness as a reason for absence, and later pretended her father had passed away to obtain compassionate leave.
Her deception unravelled when she was spotted in public with the father she claimed was deceased.
Despite her claim that a co-worker had made up the sighting in an attempt to “cause more heartbreak”, an investigation confirmed her lies.
Following her dismissal from her NHS position, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has now removed Ms Coulbeck from the register, saying that her “lies” were “incompatible” with her remaining in the profession.
Ms Coulbeck worked for the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust when in September 2021, she called her ward manager and told her that her father had suffered a cardiac event and had suddenly passed.
She went on paid compassionate leave for two weeks – but was spotted walking with her father, who was alive and well.
This was reported to one of the nurse’s managers, who wrote in an email in January 2023 that she had asked Ms Coulbeck about it, but the nurse blamed a co-worker making it up to “cause more heartbreak”.
“I said ‘I just wanted to bring to your attention and this is really sensitive but I have been made aware that you have been seen with your father last week and we have been made aware that someone has spoken to him’,” the manager said.
“She said she’s sick of this and no doubt this is the OT from stroke that is saying all this to cause her more heartbreak.
“I said ‘I am sorry to ask’ and she said ‘well Danni my dad is dead and sorry I want to move on and come to work’.”
But her father was not dead, and when the trust verified this Ms Coulbeck instead insisted she had meant that he was “dead to her”.
However, it was found that she had taken the compassionate leave knowing it was from the assumption that he was actually dead.
The tribunal heard that she had not only lied to her employer about her father’s death but also her ex-partner.
Less than a year after the compassionate leave, starting in June 2022, the nurse lied about being pregnant in order to get time off work for morning sickness.
She took three days off over June and July, and a whole week off going into August.
Ms Coulbeck again also misled her ex-partner, whom she told she was on maternity leave rather than sick leave.
But while she was able to provide a sick note from her GP saying she had morning sickness, the doctor had not actually verified that she had ever been pregnant.
Ms Coulbeck tried to claim to the trust that she had done an at-home pregnancy test, but later came clean that she had lied about being pregnant altogether.
An investigation was launched into the two lies to get time off work, and in March 2023 the nurse was sacked.
The NMC has now found that the “highly emotive” lies told by the nurse means she cannot continue in the profession.
It said: “The panel considered the nature of Ms Coulbeck’s conduct to be particularly serious.
“The lies concerned highly emotive matters that would ordinarily elicit sympathy, compassion and support and cause distress for others.
“Further the panel determined that this would have had an impact on the service and her colleagues due to having to cover for her absence.
“The panel considered that Ms Coulbeck’s actions were manipulative in that they took advantage of the compassion and goodwill of her colleagues and managers.
“The panel determined that Ms Coulbeck’s actions were significant departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse and are fundamentally incompatible with her remaining on the register.”