Doctor who lied on her CV that she was a GP when she was actually on maternity leave and doing ad hoc work for a private practice she set up with her husband, is banned from practising for 12 months
- Dr Monica Barron got a clinical research physician job for MediNova in 2018
- Her CV said she was a GP at a practice in Wokingham from 2012 to 2015
- But MPTS hearing was told her work was ‘limited to giving advice’
- Panel found she was on maternity leave between November 2012 and June 2013
A doctor has been handed a year-long ban for lying on her CV about working as a GP when she was actually on maternity leave and doing ad hoc work.
Monica Barron, 44, qualified as a doctor in Romania in 2002 and moved to Britain with her husband in 2012 before landing a clinical research physician job for MediNova – a UK-based clinical research company – in February 2018.
Dr Barron, originally from Hungary, said on her CV that she was a GP at the practice MRK Medical Services in Wokingham from April 2012 to March 2015, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) heard.
But her work was ‘strictly limited to giving advice, and she was not prescribing any medication’, and Dr Barron had also been on maternity leave between November 1 2012 and June 28 2013, the panel was told.
Dr Barron accepted that the impression given on her CV was of a more established role as a GP, and the tribunal concluded that although she had been the director, ‘it could not be said that she worked as a GP for MRK Medical Services’.
The tribunal concluded that Dr Barron’s conduct fell so far short of the standards of conduct expected of a doctor that she had committed misconduct, and she was suspended from registration for 12 months.
But Dr Barron, who continued to travel regularly to Romania after moving, had resigned from her post on 13 January 2020 and she has not practiced medicine since then.
She has not lived or worked in the UK since May 2021, and had relinquished her license to practise in September 2021.
Monica Barron qualified as a doctor in Romania in 2002 and moved to Britain with her husband in 2012 before landing clinical research physician job for MediNova – a UK-based clinical research company – in February 2018 (stock image)
A letter written on Dr Barron’s behalf, shown to the tribunal, reads: ‘Dr Barron is cognisant of the impression her CV gave that her role was that of an established private GP.
‘Dr Barron regrets the confusion that has been caused as a result of the fact she was working between Romania and the UK over the time period in question.’
The General Medical Council (GMC) looked into Dr Barron following a local investigation which started when a senior researcher who had worked with her in 2019 raised suspicions about her CV.
If someone wants to practise medicine in the UK, they need a licence which is granted through registration with the GMC.
A witness statement from a doctor who reviewed the CV for the MediNova role told of how Dr Barron’s husband had called them on their personal mobile regarding the job.
He said his wife was currently a GP and was interested in the role, and sent her CV over to them following the discussion.
A letter submitted by Dr Barron’s legal representatives said that MRK Medical Services was a limited company set up by Dr Barron and her husband as a means through which she could work and provide private medical services to UK-based patients.
Following her move to the UK, Dr Barron was unable to gain entry to the NHS Performers List for GPs in England but wished to work in a flexible way so that she could take care of her young family, the letter added.
Her initial intention was to provide medical services to Romanian and Hungarian nationals resident in the UK and these patients were undertaking seasonal or contract work and did not speak English.
The tribunal heard that she did not carry out ‘ordinary’ GP services through MRK Medical Services, and she ‘did advise patients, but almost entirely on a pro-bono basis and over the telephone’.
The number of such consultations were small, being perhaps 4 or 5 in any given month, the panel heard.
The economic circumstances of the patients meant that they rarely had money to pay for private medical services, and Dr Barron soon realised that the advantages of setting up a private practice could not outweigh the reality of what she was able to do, the tribunal was told.
Dr Barron therefore did not carry out ‘ordinary’ GP services through MRK Medical Services Ltd ‘in the ordinary sense’, the panel heard.
A further allegation was also made that she had misled employers by writing on her CV that she had been an SA Team volunteer between September 2016 and February 2018, but this was found not to be proved as the information was ‘vague’ and did not refer to it being a medical post.
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