NHS to clamp down on medical and dental fraud as annual cost tops £1 billion
The head of the NHS’ new anti-fraud body has vowed to clamp down on bogus claims, as figures reveal that annual cost of fraud has risen to over £1 billion.
Sue Frith said that more will be done to tackle fraudulent claims made for free dental treatment and prescriptions and added that regulations will also be tightened to prevent NHS dentists from claiming for work they haven’t carried out. The new chief executive of the NHS Counter Fraud Agency, which was established on the 1st November, said that fraud is robbing the NHS of “vital funds” and promised to crack down on patients, professionals and contractors in a bid to prevent fraudulent activity and ensure that valuable resources are used in the right way.
Analysis by the body suggests that fraud costs the NHS around £1.25 billion per year. This represents around 1 percent of the total NHS budget. According to research, the most significant area of fraud is the procurement of free services and medication by patients who are not entitled to them. This relates to claiming free prescriptions and dental treatment and the cost is estimated at £200 million per year. Payroll fraud costs the NHS approximately £90 million per year, and dentists are claiming up to £70 million annually for work they have not provided.
Ms Frith said that individual claims may seem insignificant, but in large volumes, the cost soon adds up. She stressed that the NHS is taking steps to improve fraud detection and make investigative processes more robust.
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