A SENIOR nurse who falsified 16 training certificates has been told she acted "deplorably" as she was struck off by her professional watchdog.

Blackburn-based Julie Cummins had been a clinical quality safeguarding and performance co-ordinator for the Lancashire and Midlands commissioning services unit (LMCSU).

She had sought work with two nursing agencies, Pulse and Your World, a Nursing and Midwifery Council misconduct hearing was told.

And during routine checks, staff at Your World approached the LMSCU, asking for verification of a manual handling certificate, the panel heard

But the unit confirmed they did not offer a qualification, to the same level, as Cummins had claimed.

This led to a wider inquiry into Cummins' qualifications, which brought into question various CPR, safeguarding, infection protection and basic life support qualifications.

Bryony Dongray, for the NMC, said an investigation showed there were three main ways in which Cummins had forged certificates.

She had either used her previous access as a trainer to find templates, from which she had produced false documents. On occasions she had 'cut and paste' logos to certificates she had produced. And she had produced documents with false details, dates and signatures.

The hearing was told her actions had led her to working 14 shifts for Your World and four for pulse, between July 2016 and October 2017 when she had not completed the appropriate training.

Tom Hoskins, for Cummins, said his client had been "desperate", around the time of the offences, and now had a much greater insight into her conduct then when the inquiry first began.

She had completed valid training in most of the areas for which she had produced false certificates, he told the misconduct panel.

David Newman, who chaired the NMC hearing, said: "The panel considered your conduct deplorable.

"The provision of evidence of training by nurses through certification is fundamental to maintaining nursing standards.

"Falsifying training certificates to obtain nursing work clearly undermines that fundamental requirement."

The panel accepted she was remorseful and the discovery of her dishonest conduct had a "devastating impact", he added, but that a striking-off order was the only appropriate penalty.