A DOCTOR accused of fraud worked at a Worcester hospital earning ‘megabucks’ as a locum while signed off sick from another hospital in Wales, a court was told.

Lucy Dawson is accused of working as an £800-a-day locum, including shifts at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, as she claimed £30,000 in sick pay while on leave from her job at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport with depression and stress.

The accident and emergency doctor of The Narth, Monmouth, is standing trial at Newport Crown Court charged with two counts of fraud by failing to disclose information, which she denies.

Dawson went on her first sickness leave in October 2009 claiming she had a “very bad head” but earned £520 from an eight-hour shift at Worcestershire Royal Hospital through an agency.

Despite returning to work, Dawson went on sick leave in November citing depression and stress. But between March and May 2010 she worked a further nine shifts at Worcestershire Royal Hospital and Hereford County Hospital, earning up to £840 for a 12-hour shift.

The court heard how she was alleged to have claimed on social networking site Twitter how she was earning “megabucks” and “a stupid amount of dosh”. It is alleged she claimed nearly £30,000 in sick pay from the Aneurin Bevan Health Board while tweeting that “they lie and bully people”.

Dawson is alleged to have taken the sick leave between October 13 and 23, 2009, and November 9, 2009, to May 14, 2010.

Giving evidence, Dawson said she had an “exemplary” work record before 2006 but when she ended a 13-year relationship with her then line manager Nicholas Jenkins, she felt as if he was making her working life “difficult”.

Dawson, who was working at Abergavenny’s Nevill Hall Hospital at the time, said this included her confidentiality being breached when she sent Mr Jenkins a private e-mail with concerns she had about a colleague.

This led to Mr Jenkins being removed as her line manager but the colleague she had raised concerns about became her new line manager making a “very difficult situation”.

Dawson said she felt like she was viewed as “a troublemaker” after raising two further concerns in the workplace and when her new line manager made a complaint that Dawson was bullying her.

This led to Dawson being suspended in November 2007 for 12 months while an investigation was carried out which found against her.

Dawson went back to work after her suspension, working at the Royal Gwent, but later went on sick. Talking about taking on the locum work, which she described as “reassuring and refreshing”, she claimed it was to maintain clinical confidence.

The trial continues.