Fraud and waste in British National Health Service

Between $10 billion and $14 billion of the British National Health Service budget is lost through waste, fraud and inefficiency,according to a recent report. Stuart Emslie, a risk control expert at the Department of Health, told a meeting of health experts last month that between 16 percent and 20 percent of the government's $77 billion annual budget was being lost.

Among the losses:

Between $1.4 billion to $4.3 billion are lost through fraud such as patients falsely claiming free prescriptions=20 and dentists charging for treatment not carried out.

Almost $3 billion are lost because of "bed blocking" by elderly people who do not need acute care but cannot be discharged because they have nowhere to go.

Almost $3 billion go to sick pay and agency nurses—40 percent of the sickness being caused by back injuries to nurses who tried to lift patients incorrectly.

Just under $1.5 billion is required to treat hospital-acquired infections.

The annual losses more than wipe out the extra $7.2 billion a year which the Treasury would need to pump into the NHS to meet the prime minister's pledge to match average spending on health in other European countries.

Source: Rosie Waterhouse and David Cracknell Fraud and Waste Cost NHS =A37bn a Year, Sunday Times, December 2, 2001.

For text (requires free registration) http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/article/0,,9003-2001555077,00.html

For more on National Health http://www.ncpa.org/iss/hea/

FMF Policy Bulletin\19 December 2001