New figures have revealed 1,752 cases of patients defrauding the NHS in Fife and Tayside over the last three years.
The statistics, obtained by the Scottish Conservative party following a freedom of information request, show that nationally there were upwards of 15,000 people subject to fraud investigations, costing the health service an estimated £110 million per year.
Twelve of Scotland’s 14 health boards submitted their figures following the FOI request but NHS Ayrshire and Arran and NHS Grampian failed to respond, meaning the true total cost of money lost by the NHS is likely to be even higher.
Examples of patient fraud include people falsely claiming travel expenses to appointments, claiming for medicine that is then passed on or sold and lying to the NHS about benefit entitlement to claim free treatment or travel costs.
In Fife, £37,00 has been recovered following the investigation of 825 patients, while in Tayside, £43,000 has been clawed back after 927 patients were investigated.
Across Scotland, health chiefs have managed to recover £530,000 since 2009 but Fife Council’s spokesman for executive health, Andrew Rodger, said that was ”little comfort” compared to the total amount fraudulently taken. He called for more to be done to stop people taking advantage of the system.
”The average operation costs the NHS £5,000 so if £110m is being lost each year, that’s 20,000 operations that are being sacrificed,” he said. ”People who try to scam the NHS are taking money away from patient care and must be dealt with severely.
”I am also concerned about how much these investigations are costing the NHS as they are bound to be very time-consuming and expensive. The current system must therefore be tightened up with more stringent procedures put in place.”
Mid Scotland and Fife Labour MSP Richard Simpson, who is also the Scottish Labour spokesman for public health, said he too was disappointed by the high number of cases in Fife but was glad that work was ongoing to try to ”reprimand” those responsible.
Tory MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife Murdo Fraser said it was sad people would choose to steal from hospitals.
”This is hurting patient care and taxpayers,” he said. ”People in Fife and Tayside are proud of their NHS and it is important that we stamp out fraud to reduce crime and allow more funding to be used for frontline services.”
Dundee councillor Alan Ross, who represents the Lochee ward and was recently appointed a member of NHS Tayside Board, said he had spoken to NHS Tayside and had been assured all instances of fraud would be investigated and measures made to ensure monies lost were recovered.
”I do believe there will be instances where genuine mistakes have been made but it is completely unacceptable for people to knowingly defraud the NHS at a time when it is very hard placed and those responsible should be held to account for their actions.”
Representatives of NHS Fife and NHS Tayside declined to comment on figures for their areas, instead referring media calls to NHS Scotland.
A spokesman for the NHS’s Counter Fraud Service (CFS) said: ”CFS is committed to reducing fraud and corruption in NHS Scotland, and to building and promoting a culture in which staff, patients, contractors and the wider public regard fraud against the NHS as totally unacceptable.”