NHS fraud team welcomes the recent striking-off of two pharmacists
NHS fraud investigators have welcomed recent decisions by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Statutory Committee to strike off two pharmacists for defrauding the NHS.
David Grey, operational manager for the pharmaceutical fraud team of
the NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service, said that the
service aimed for a “triple sanction approach” to cases of
suspected fraud and would seek civil and disciplinary action whether
or not criminal proceedings succeeded. He said that the CFSMS had instigated
the 19 April Statutory Committee inquiry that led to a striking-off decision
in the case of Robert Michael Anderson, who had defrauded the NHS of
about £30,000 (see Official Notice, p556).
The CFSMS also welcomed the committee’s decision on 24 February
to order the striking-off of Lay Ean Cheah (formerly Atkinson) for defrauding
the NHS of more than £2,000 (PJ, 6 March, p301).
The CFSMS says that over five years of working with the Society and other
health care bodies, it has produced a financial benefit to the NHS of
almost £320m, a 16:1
return on its total budget of £20m. As of February 2004, NHS fraud
by patients has been reduced from £170m a year to £87m a
year, mainly by cutting prescription fraud from £117m to £47m.
Fraud by NHS professionals has fallen by 18–30 per cent “in
key areas”, fraud detection rates have improved more than fourfold,
98 per cent of prosecutions are successful and monies recovered for the
NHS have increased sevenfold.
The CFSMS now supports more than 400 local counter fraud specialists
covering every health body in England and Wales. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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