NHS Fraud

HC Deb 11 March 2003 vol 401 cc241-2W

Mr. Burns

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimates he has made of the level of fraud in the NHS. [102135]

Mr. Hutton

The National Health Service Counter Fraud Service (NHS CFS) has an ongoing programme of risk measurement exercises designed to reveal levels of losses and, through repeated exercises, reduction in such losses. Phase one of these exercises concentrated on patient fraud. The following table detail the results.

Phase two of the programme will focus on contractor fraud within the NHS. As the measurement programme extends, it will enable NHS CFS to accurately assess the totality of NHS fraud.

Pharmaceutical patient fraud
£ million
Year data selected	Fraud losses
1998–99	117
1999–2000	69
Dental patient fraud
1999–2000	40.3
2000–01	30
Optical Patient Fraud
1999–2000	13.25
2001–02	10.17

Total patient fraud losses have reduced from approximately £170 million to £109.17 million per year, a reduction of 36 per cent., since the creation of NHS CFS in 1998.