Fraudsters steal £2.2m from NHS

NHS Lothian lost around £2.2 million to fraud last year, its accounts have revealed.

The figure is down by around 900,000 from the year before, but still of massive concern to health chiefs.

A series of high-profile court cases against former health board employees in the past year have helped raise awareness of the issue, while the NHS Counter Fraud Services team is carrying out more checks. Both these were credited as being reasons for the drop. Of the missing 2.2m, only 27,000 has been recovered.

Last week the Evening News revealed how hundreds of Lothians benefits cheats had been ordered to repay thousands after fraudulently claiming free dental treatment, eyecare and prescriptions.

Over the past two years, dentists and pharmacists have also been found to have claimed for work they never carried out.