Anti fraud policies working, claims Government

Tuesday, 15 June 2004 12:00 AM

The Government is claiming that as a result of its anti fraud policies the NHS is £478 million better off.

Since 1998, 400 counter fraud specialists have been appointed and a national anti fraud strategy introduced.

Health Minister Lord Warner said: "I welcome this saving of nearly half a billion pounds from fraudsters. This can now be spent on what it was intended for - patient care.

"The vast majority who work in or use the NHS have united on this very important issue. Patients and the public deserve a modern, high-quality NHS, with more doctors and more nurses, and this is what we are striving to help provide. The Government continues to look at new ways to protect NHS valuable resources from a dishonest minority."

Official statistics show there have been 215 successful prosecutions (a 97 per cent success rate) and 275 successful civil and disciplinary cases.

Successful prosecutions against staff include a paramedic found guilty of selling equipment at auction, and a staff nurse who took on agency work whilst on sick leave from the NHS.

Overall patient fraud has been cut by 49 per cent, and in some areas fraud by NHS professionals by 18-30 per cent.

Jim Gee, chief executive of the NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service said: "We have worked with the vast honest majority to make it clear to the minority who perpetrate fraud that their actions are completely unacceptable.

"However, there is no room for complacency and we know that financial demands on the NHS for improved standards of clinical care mean that there can be no let up in protecting its resources. The more we can protect NHS resources, the better the NHS can protect the public's health."

In a separate announcement, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) claims that the British public is firmly behind attempts to cut benefit fraud.

It claims that 94 per cent of people rated stopping benefit cheats as extremely or very important.

Anti-Fraud Minister Chris Pond commented: "Our research bears out that the public are fed up with cheats who steal money from the tax payer that should go to people in genuine need of help.

"With the public's help, we've cut fraud in the main two working age benefits by 38 per cent but we're not finished yet. We're on course to halve fraud by 2006."

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