Fraud against the NHS means that the money intended for patient care, and funded by the taxpayer, ends up in the pockets of those who did not legitimately earn it. It means fewer resources are available to be spent on frontline health services such as patient care, health care facilities, doctors, nurses and other staff.
Fraud, bribery, corruption and other illegal acts committed to obtain financial or professional gain, cost the NHS billions of pounds every year. In 2019/20 it was estimated that the cost to the NHS was around £1.14 billion per annum, as per the NHS Counter Fraud Authority, who assess that to be enough money to pay for over 40,000 staff nurses or to purchase over 5,000 frontline ambulances.
North Central London Clinical Commissioning Group is committed to maintaining an honest, open and well-intentioned approach to best fulfil the objectives of the NHS. This means the CCG operate a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and bribery. Such conduct, at any level, is unacceptable. The CCG ensures that there are effective controls in place throughout the organisation, including stringent policies and internal systems to prevent and detect bribery, in accordance with the Bribery Act 2010, and to counter fraud by ensuring compliance with the NHS Counter Fraud Authority requirements to comply with the Government Functional Standard for Counter Fraud.