Alleged fake nurse a 'serious example'

A man is facing charges in WA and Queensland for posing as a nurse and assaulting patients over the age of 60.

A man accused of posing as a nurse at remote hospitals is a "serious example" of the uncommon offence, a Perth court has heard.

Nicholas William Crawford of Darwin allegedly claimed to be a registered and qualified nurse when he worked at a remote West Australian hospital over a two-week period last year.

Crawford is also alleged to have used forged documents to gain employment at the Aurukun Primary Health Centre on Cape York in far northern Queensland where he posed as a nurse for six weeks early this year.

Queensland police allege Crawford gave drugs to children and assaulted patients over the age of 60 at Aurukun, where it is thought he used someone else's details to get the $100,000-a-year job.

A lawyer for the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) told Perth Magistrates Court on Friday Crawford's alleged conduct in WA was a "serious example" of an uncommon offence.

Crawford, who did not appear, is facing 15 charges in WA and 115 charges in Queensland.

Police are also investigating a case in the Northern Territory, where Crawford worked five shifts as an agency nurse in June last year.

AHPRA is not prosecuting Crawford in the Northern Territory.

He is due back in the same Perth court this month and in Cairns Magistrates Court in September.


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Source: AAP


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