UK. Counter fraud report

Citation

(2003), "UK. Counter fraud report", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 16 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2003.06216fab.007

UK. Counter fraud report

UK

Counter fraud report

Keywords: Patient fraud in NHS, Corruption, Fraud policy

In June, Jim Gee, chief executive of the NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service told the third annual NHS Counter Fraud Professionals Conference that counter fraud work in the NHS has saved almost £300 million for patient care since 1999. It is estimated that losses from patient fraud have been cut by more than one third over the past four years and in some areas fraud by NHS professionals has fallen by up to 40 per cent.

Over the past four years, there has been a 500 per cent increase in the amount of fraud identified and stopped and a 98 per cent success rate in prosecutions brought against alleged fraudsters.

Mr Gee said the figures showed the huge strides the NHS has made in countering fraud since 1999. He added: "There is much more still to do but these statistics compare very favourably with any other public or private sector organisation."

The Counter Fraud and Security Management Service (CFSMS) is a Special Health Authority which has responsibility for all policy and operational matters relating to the prevention, detection and investigation of fraud and corruption and the management of security in the National Health Service. It was created in January 2003, following the successes of the NHS Counter Fraud Service (NHS CFS) which was established in September 1998, with the remit of tackling all losses to fraud and corruption in the NHS.

Further information: Information about the CFSMS can be found at www.doh.gov.uk/dcfs. The report, NHS CFS Performance Statistics 1999-2002, can be downloaded in pdf format from: www.cfsms.nhs.uk/pub/cfsms/documents.html