Hospital cleaner paid £23,000 after an NHS blunder meant she kept receiving her wages 18 months after leaving her job due to a family illness is allowed to keep the money

• Aneta Helminiak, 46, offered to repay the money but NHS sought to prosecute 

A hospital cleaner who was given more than £23,000 due to an NHS blunder has been allowed to keep the cash thanks to a kind judge.

Aneta Helminiak, 46, continued to be paid her £1,300 monthly wage for 18 months after leaving the NHS.

A court heard she was paid due to an admin error by the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board despite no longer working as a housekeeper.

It was only after she returned to another job in the NHS that the blunder was picked up and Helminiak was investigated by officials.

A court heard Aneta Helminiak was paid due to an admin error by the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (Pictured, Cardiff & Vale University Health Board)

Cardiff Crown Court heard she immediately offered to pay back the money but NHS bosses sought to prosecute her.

Prosecutor Kirsten Murphy said Helminiak had worked for the health board for almost four years before she resigned due to a family illness in 2021.

Ms Murphy said she remained in contact with her former manager about possibly returning to her role but kept quiet as her monthly payments continued.

The error was eventually noticed in August 2022 and she was investigated by the NHS counter-fraud department, Ms Murphy added.

Helminiak, of Aberaman near Aberdare, South Wales, admitted theft.

Ross McQullian-Johnson, defending said she had offered to repay the money when she was first caught and had repeated the offer since.

He said health chiefs had refused her offer because they wanted the court to issue a demand for payment.

He said not admitting the payments was ‘stupid and selfish but it was not wicked’ and that the money had not been used on lavish items but instead on everyday spending.

Cardiff Crown Court heard she immediately offered to pay back the money but NHS bosses sought to prosecute her

Judge, Recorder of Cardiff Tracey Lloyd-Clarke handed Hemliniak a 20-week suspended sentence and ordered her to do 80 hours of unpaid work.

She said the health board had missed out on offers for Helminiak to repay the money voluntarily by wanting to ‘take its chances’ in court.

Instead, she said an application for a compensation order had been filed just 36 minutes before the start of the hearing and there was no time for a full assessment of Helminiak’s means.

Instead of making her pay £23,000 compensation, Helminiak was ordered to pay £420 costs.

Source: Read Full Article