Cheats cost health service in Lothian thousands of pounds

Published on Thursday 25 June 2009 10:08

DENTISTS claiming NHS treatment for private patients, and consultants offering ultrasounds for payment are among alleged frauds costing NHS Lothian thousands of pounds.

Health workers stealing food and others working for private companies when signed off sick are also part of a fraud breakdown, released to the Evening News under Freedom of Information.

A combination of sealed cases and ongoing investigations has seen NHS Lothian potentially lose out on around 13,000 last year.

And examples of these range from pharmacists accidentally ordering repeat prescriptions, to employees stealing cash from patients.

NHS chiefs said work was ongoing to clamp down on fraud, which across the UK costs millions to the health service each year, and also flag up to staff those who may be unintentionally making bogus claims.

In one case investigated by health chiefs, a dentist was allleged to be claiming NHS treatment for private patients, potentially costing the health board nearly 1,500, but the charge could not ultimately be proved.

Food worth around 2,600 went missing from an NHS kitchen, but again no case could be proven.

Another employee who was off sick as a nurse, returned to work as a bank nurse, therefore getting double money, although NHS Lothian documents show "flaw in the time management system hampered investigation".

Other health workers have been paid twice for working in the same departments at the same time, while one consultant was accused of offering private scans and ultrasounds to around 19 patients last year.

Again, the investigation could not prove any wrongdoing, at a cost of around 400 to the taxpayer.

There are also six ongoing investigations regarding non- eligible overseas visitors who received treatment without charge, which could ultimately cost as much as 4000.

In one case, a dental receptionist was suspected of destroying a GP's electronic records, as well as stealing cash from patient payments.

The NHS has a counter-fraud team, which recently paid visits to the ERI and St John's Hospital in Livingston.

Service communications manager Stephen Frier said: "Only a very small number of healthcare professionals, staff and patients seek to defraud the NHS, but our main aim is to identify those areas of misuse of resources and reduce it to an absolute minimum."

Alan Boyter, director of human resources and organisational development, NHS Lothian, said: "People who steal from the NHS are stealing from the sick and we will immediately report any suspected fraud to the police.

"We have a robust and effective system, working with NHS counter-fraud services, for detecting the tiny minority of NHS staff who may be tempted to steal."