Drug fraud costing millions

Action to Fight Health Fraud

A Government report is expected to recommend a clampdown on patients who falsely claim they are exempt from charges.

It may include tougher penalties for those caught evading prescription charges and moves to prevent fraud by doctors and pharmacists.

"This is fraud at the patients' expense," the Health Minister, Alan Milburn, told BBC television's Breakfast News

Milburn: Fraud at patients' expense

Milburn argues the case for action on BBC TV's Breakfast News

"The overwhelming majority of cases of fraud are committed by patients, trying to fiddle their prescription forms," said Mr Milburn. "We're not prepared to let the situation carry on."

"There is some evidence of what we call practitioner fraud, involving a very small minority of GPs and pharmacists and I do want to emphasise the point that the overwhelming majority of family doctors and chemists are decent, law-abiding and perfectly honest," he continued.

"But there are a few bad apples and they're besmirching the reputation of the profession as a whole and we're determined to take tough action against them," insisted the minister.

No one can be sure how much the NHS is losing through patients evading prescription charges. Estimates range from 60 to a hundred million pounds a year in England and Wales alone.

The simplest and most common fraud involves patients falsely claiming to be exempt from charges by ticking a box on the back of their prescription.

Even if they're caught patients can't be prosecuted unless they then refuse to pay for their medicine.

The extent of fraud by doctors and pharmacists is also difficult to quantify.

But the Prescription Fraud Unit in Newcastle set up last year is already examining 430 cases of alleged malpractice.