Nhs Loses £7Billion To Fraud And Errors

[Gromit]

// Fraud is costing the NHS £5bn a year, with a further £2bn lost to errors, the former head of its anti-fraud section says.

The report, by the University of Portsmouth and accountancy firm BDO, is due to be published on Tuesday.

The Department of Health said it "did not recognise" the figures.

It found that the biggest areas of fraud are in payroll and procurement budgets.

For example a consultant doing private work on NHS time or procurement wise; an optician charging for glasses which the patient never received or needed.

The £2bn cost of errors relate to when the NHS makes overpayments by mistake to suppliers or staff. //

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26654001

// A Freedom of Information request by the BBC shows that NHS Protect employs 27 counter-fraud specialists, with a further 294 investigators working at a local level.

By contrast, the Department for Work and Pensions employs six times the number of investigators - but if Mr Gee's figures are accurate, they face less than half the amount of fraud. //

Is the Government taking the problem seriously?

[Svejk]

thats a surprising amount of fraud by people with, presumably, well paid jobs. we dont hear much about it, do we, when compared to dwp fraud.

[youngmafbog]

Since when has a well paid job stopped greed?

The NHS has been out of control for many many years. Overpaid managers who have their own personal agenda. no team work and not enough firings (without pay offs)

But I doubt any Government will do much because if they did the other side would accuse them of trying to wreck it. Strangely though by not doing it both Labour and Tory will be complicit in its decline.

[LazyGun]

Certainly sounds like Panorama tonight will be worth a watch. Its a fair enough comment - if the level of fraud is as high as he is suggesting, then it most definitely needs tackling.

[ChillDoubt]

Those are eye-watering figures and as someone who has worked in the NHS some 21 and a half years I'd have to say that the supposed levels of fraud are nowhere near as what they possibly were when I started.
People no longer are able to make spurious claims for overtime, private patients etc. Medical reps are not even allowed to give out mugs and post-it notes with a company logo and the all-encompassing 'golf days' that acted as sweeteners and incentives are a long distant memory.

[LazyGun]

The Independent have a fuller account, detailing some examples of fraud on the NHS, including the one we have some discussions about earlier this year with the woman who was selling inkjet cartridges on ebay.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/nhs-fraud-equal-to-its-entire-budget-for-cancer-treatment-9211197.html

[youngmafbog]

Mugs and golf days are not fraud they are covered by bribery laws.

The NHS is too big, no one at the helm.

Working for them must be like being tied to the mast of a sinking ship of fools.

[emmie]

if anyone watched it, i am wondering if this isn't another BBC exercise in knocking the cutbacks in the NHS, having a go at the government
over NHS Fraud investigators, because that cropped up time and again, how many they had and how many now, and the privatisation of parts of the NHS.

Its not hard to see how so much money can go walkabout, accountability being high on the list
the example of an out of hours GP doctor service struck home, as i recall visiting one and finding only one doctor in residence, and she had the flu
not a good place if you need help.

[factor-fiction]

I haven't watched it but I heard a debate on radio 4 today. The consultancy firm who produced the figures have not actually worked out this figure- they have extrapolated the figure based on average fraud levels across other health services around the world. They have just said assuming ours is no better and no worse at preventing fraud than other countries are then our NHS fraud level will be around £7 billion pa.

[emmie]

thing is we pay into this, so it's our money that's going walkabout.
one woman stole over a long period of time, over a million, at least she is now in prison, doing seven years, but one person who was found to have committed fraud wasn't got rid of, then surprise surprise went on to commit further fraud, where else would that happen.