§ Lord Rugbyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will investigate allegations of fraudulent claims, made on form GOS.2(B) by some opticians, for payment by the Family Practitioner Committees and the DHSS for services not actually provided; and what procedures exist for checking such claims.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Security (Lord Glenarthur)A number of anonymous letters alleging fraud, apparently all from the same person, have come to the attention of this department recently but160WA without specific information about the practitioners alleged to be involved it is not possible to take further action on these letters.
However, one of the checks carried out by Family Practitioner Committees is a statistical examination of opticians' claims in order to identify any unusual patterns which warrant investigation. Such checks will alert committees to any significant abuse by opticians.