Revealed: fake medic Zholia Alemi's litany of dodgy practice

Zholia Alemi, 60, who forged a University of Auckland medical degree and other documents to pass off as a qualified psychiatrist, later worked at Workington Community Hospital, treating dementia patients.

She was sacked after being prosecuted for forging a Keswick widow’s will in an audacious bid to inherit her £1.3m estate.

Alemi’s status as a bogus doctor was exposed in 2018 by the News & Star after her conviction for the will fraud. Despite this being confirmed by the General Medical Council (GMC) Alemi denied wrongdoing.

But a jury last week convicted her of forging her medical qualifications.

A fresh News & Star investigation has now publicly linked Alemi for the first time to failings in the care given to a vulnerable woman with learning difficulties at another NHS trust.

Officials at Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust (RDaSH) have confirmed that Alemi was involved in the case of Annette Burt, a 56-year-old woman with learning difficulties.

She died from natural causes in 2014.

The failings in her care were considered so serious that the trust commissioned a major review, which ultimately led to the creation of Annette’s Charter, a “good practice” bible, designed to ensure the mistakes in her case are never repeated.

The review included confirmation that: “Annette was one of a number of patients seen by a person acting as a qualified psychiatrist but now known to be working under a false registration.”

In a statement, Dr Graeme Tosh, Medical Director at RDaSH, confirmed that the fake doctor involved was indeed Alemi.

The Trust's Charter, designed to ensure the mistakes made in Annette's care are not repeated. (Image: UGC)

He said: “I would reiterate that whilst Ms Alemi worked at the Trust, we received one patient complaint about the medical care she fraudulently provided to our service users.

“The complaint was a secondary part of a larger complaint about the overall care provided by RDaSH to that patient and led to an independent report commissioned through Niche (a consultancy company) and finalised in July 2020.

“This report refers to a ‘person acting as a qualified doctor/psychiatrist but known to be working under false registration. I am able to confirm that this was Ms Alemi. Ms Alemi was one of many staff members involved in that patients care during their time with the Trust.” 

The GMC said: “Zholia Alemi was interim suspended in June 2017. In July 2017, we received information from Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust that Alemi had failed to disclose that she was under GMC investigation for fraud related offences when seeking to renew her approved clinician status.

“In 2018, Alemi was given a substantive 12-month suspension following a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service hearing, relating to this matter. In 2019, Alemi was removed from the medical register.”

Alemi’s involvement in the Annette Burt case can only now be revealed following the jury’s guilty verdicts in the forged medical degree case last week.

In its report, RDaSH officials spell out the failings identified.

Shortcomings included:

• Annette’s learning disability was not taken into account in her diagnosis and management, and instead she was diagnosed with a severe mental illness – catatonic schizophrenia.
• Diagnostic delays resulted in her losing her independence and suffering poor end-of-life care.
• “Diagnostic overshadowing” prevented health teams from looking outside of her “assumed diagnosis of catatonic schizophrenia”, which drove inappropriate medication and care-planning
• Annette was admitted to unsuitable and medicalised environments for months at a time causing her stress and reducing her independence.
• Her family not being adequately consulted at numerous points in her care and, when they raised concerns, pursuing good quality care, they were side-lined.
• Her family were not informed of the deterioration in Annette’s physical health. Staff put her vomiting down to behavioural and mental health issues which delayed access to the right medical care
• Annette was viewed as having a mental health problem as a result of her resistance to care and prescribed a strong depression and anxiety medication. This sedated her with no discernible therapeutic effect.

The News & Star's probe uncovered that Alemi was investigated by the medical authorities several times. That litany of complaints – raising questions about why her background was not investigated – included:

• June 1998. Sperrin Lakeland Health and Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland. A patient complained that she made “inappropriate personal comments”. Alemi denied this and officials said the evidence was not sufficient to consider GMC restricting her practice.
• September 2004. Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust. The family of a patient with learning difficulties said Alemi showed an “adversarial attitude” towards them. They also alleged that there was “inappropriate prescribing”. A GMC ruled that formal advice should be issued to Alemi in April 2005.
• December 2010. Rowan House (Care Principles). Following concerns from her colleagues, Alemi was sacked. An employer review revealed she failed to engage with multi-disciplinary teams, failed to declare a conviction for careless driving, misused work emails, made inappropriate comments to patients and staff, fabricated parts of her her CV, failed to disclose the ongoing GMC investigation and did work requiring S12 Mental Health Act approval (which she did not have; this allows a doctor to sanction compulsory treatment or assessment). Investigators ruled her conduct fell “significantly below” the required standard and she given a warning, to remain on her public record for 5 years.
• September 2012. Alemi challenged the warning. Investigators then discovered she failed to disclose a speeding conviction, and new allegations arose - bullying a former colleague, and overstepping doctor patient boundaries. In January, 2014, The Metropolitan Police Service revealed Alemi allegedly assaulted a police officer, but she failed to disclose this. A Medical Practitioners Tribunal was held in 2017, the allegations including: rudeness, inappropriate behaviour, and inaccurate declaration. Most of the facts were deemed proven but there was no finding of misconduct.
• June 2013.St George’s Healthcare Trust Concern. Alemi accused of attempting to obtain a copy of leave form and pharmacy prescription card for fraudulent purposes. The investigation was closed for lack of evidence.
• June 2016. Cumbria Partnership NHS Trust. Revealed that Alemi was arrested for theft and fraud. Her practice was suspended, and she was convicted in October 2018. Alemi was removed from the medical register after the News & Star revealed that her primary medical qualification was fraudulent.
• July 2017. Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust (RDaSH) received information that Alemi tried to renew her Mental Health approved status but had not declared being subject to an ongoing GMC investigation. At the time, she was suspended for 12 months.

Zholia Alemi, currently remanded in custody. is due to be sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on February 28. She has been warned that she is facing a "substantial" jail term.