Alex Rothwell, who recently took over as CEO of NHSCFA, was invited to pen 1,000 words for this audience of NHS movers and shakers.
National Health Executive January / February 2022
In a four-page spread, Mr Rothwell set out his broad vision, NHSCFA faces the challenging years ahead.
His message is that he is encouraged by his first few months in the job, but doesn’t underestimate the enormity of the task of fighting the criminals, and calls on all partners to ramp up their collaboration.
He contrasts his own vision of a happy new year with the diametrically opposing one of a fraud criminal.
The pillars of intelligence, prevention, investigation and recovery are all articulated, and he makes the call to action to keep reporting fraud to NHSCFA’s reporting lines.
NHE readers are directly called to action too: “This is what we’re collectively up against, and readers of NHE magazine are in a position to make a real difference in this battle. NHSCFA’s intelligence experts calculate that over a billion pounds a year of the NHS budget is vulnerable to fraud. What could be happening on your own patch?”
The CEO makes clear that he is resolute and realistic in facing the problems, drawing on his long experience as a very senior police officer with an ingrained passion for serving the public: “I intend to add a lot of value to our close, effective working with police forces, the CPS and the justice system as a whole.”
He identifies three standout themes:
- Collaboration
- Working to a clear strategic vision
- The value of empowering people to be brought into that vision
In reaching out to all stakeholders, Mr Rothwell stresses: “I never forget that the huge majority of NHS workers are unsung heroes, and they are our staunch allies in the fight against fraud.”
His message is also very strong on NHSCFA supporting the local level in an inspiring and empowering way.
The CEO closes by thanking the many thousands of NHS people for what they do every day in the fight against NHS fraud and making it clear: “we are in this together.”
His article builds on recent contributions to NHE by others in his leadership team, carrying forward the golden thread of our three-year strategy while putting his personal stamp on some enduring messages.
As NHE Editor Matt Roberts confirms: “the page views for this edition are already over 35,000 and climbing. Looking at Alex Rothwell’s piece in particular, our audience is engaging strongly with the piece and reading to the end of it.”
Recognising the huge importance of communication as an educator, awareness raiser, disruptor and preventor of fraud, the new CEO will be regularly deploying all available communication channels and opportunities to amplify the anti-fraud message while galvanising fraud-fighting partners.
Mr Rothwell has a number of other articles in the pipeline in a range of titles and is “looking forward to getting to know the journalists who do such an important job helping shed light on fraud against the NHS budget.”