Earlier this year, the world suddenly woke up to the COVID-19 pandemic, which changed life as we know it in what seemed like the blink of an eye. Many months later, healthcare workers remain more vital than ever, tirelessly battling on the front lines of a global public health crisis that’s unlike any we’ve come across in our lifetimes. As patient numbers continue to surge, medical institutions worldwide are rushing to add to their understaffed cadres, and this huge increase in demand has made it that much easier for scammers to forge their academic or professional documents to unethically enter the healthcare system.
Yes, detecting fake medical documents is easier said than done. There’s a lot to consider here, starting with the variances in different countries’ healthcare regulations, language barriers and other factors determining the integrity of the workforce (and we’re not even discussing the diploma mills and unaccredited universities that have popped up everywhere, selling false degrees and licenses).
Take the UK, for example. According to an article published by the UK Parliament in June, nearly 13.8% (around 262,200) of the country’s 1.9 million healthcare workforce are non-British. If we consider the current global rate of forgery – which stands at 2.32% – we could be looking at thousands of fraudulent individuals currently practicing within the UK’s healthcare sector.
We’ve all read countless stories about doctors and nurses faking their degrees to work at the National Health Service (NHS), which has damaged the reputation of hospitals and led to massive financial losses. This misconduct must stop, and with proper verifications, it definitely can.
As forgers get more sophisticated in their ways, so must we, that’s non-negotiable.
We can’t afford to rely on traditional verification processes – like examining official-looking stamps, signatures and attestations – any longer. It’s practices like these that make it difficult to detect the authenticity of documents submitted for job vacancies, leading to the hiring of fraudulent healthcare workers. Imagine having an uncertified medical poser examine you. It’s not only immoral – it’s downright scary!
Medicine is one of the noblest professions out there. Many want in on it, yet refuse to put in the long hours and strenuous work. Accepting such individuals based on archaic checks is not only damaging to the sector’s reputation and integrity, but it also takes away chunks of time and money. Because of this, a streamlined verification process is needed to guarantee that healthcare workers hold genuine degrees and practice licenses.
So, how can this sector become fraud-free? It’s quite simple. One of the easiest and quickest ways is to run verifications through trusted and advanced platforms such as Qualification Check. For over a decade, we’ve been verifying thousands of checks for public and private sectors in different industries across more than 200 countries and from over 40,000 trusted sources.
Our automated, one-stop verification solution eliminates human error and enables you to quickly and accurately check applicants’ qualifications at the source, anywhere in the world. We’re also supported by a team of multi-lingual verification experts, allowing you to verify candidates no matter where they graduated from, meaning that you no longer need to worry about recruiting globally!
Even better? Our expertise is not limited to education verifications – we also provide other types of checks, such as employment history, professional certificates and licenses, all tailored to the specific needs of the healthcare sector.
When people’s lives are at stake, there’s no such thing as being overly cautious. Every measure must be taken to make sure the right people are filling the right jobs. Give our services a trial today and join thousands of organizations that have entrusted us to give them the facts!
