All LCFSs and LCFTs are expected to adhere to the ‘Health Service Guidance (93) 5 “Standards of Business Conduct for NHS staff”. These require NHS staff to:
- ensure that the interests of patients remain paramount at all times
- be impartial and honest in the conduct of their official business
- use public funds entrusted to them to the best advantage of the service, always ensuring value for money
- ensure that they do not abuse their official position for personal gain or to benefit their families or friends
- ensure that they do not seek to gain personal advantage or further private business or other interests in the course of their official duties
It is for these reasons that LCFSs and LCFTs have an ongoing duty to notify their employer of any interests which might impinge, or might reasonably appear to others to impinge, upon their employment in their role. In cases of doubt advice should be sought from the NHSCFA. Examples of conflict of interests include:
- any controlling or significant financial interests which an employee, or a close relative or associate of theirs, holds in a business (including a private company, public sector organisation, other NHS employer and/or voluntary organisation) which may compete for an NHS contract to supply goods or services to the employer
- any additional outside employment, including representation in the role of LCFS/LSMS at another NHS body
- trusteeships, directorships or memberships of any organisations which may have dealings with the NHS, contractors with the NHS, or the Department of Health or may be reasonably considered by others to constitute a special interest (e.g. Freemasons, Rotary Club, Inner Wheel, Mechanics)
- any interests, activities, events or circumstances which may reasonably be considered to affect the employee’s performance or their public duties
The organisation for which the LCFS or LCFT is nominated has an ongoing responsibility to ensure that the person remains suitable to be nominated.
The Bribery Act 2010 modernises the law on bribery. It came into force on 1 July 2011. Very generally, bribery is defined as giving someone a financial or other advantage to encourage that person to perform their functions or activities improperly or to reward that person for having already done so.
Under the Bribery Act 2010, any money, gift or consideration received by an employee in public service from a person or organisation holding or seeking to obtain a contract will be deemed to have been received corruptly unless the employee proves to the contrary.
It is for that reason that no LCFS or LCFT should accept any gift without seeking authorisation from their employer.
Beyond these generally applicable standards, LCFSs and LCFTs are in an especially sensitive and responsible position. They are entrusted with the important task of reducing fraud within the NHS so that more NHS resources can be used to provide better patient care. They often have privileged access to confidential information involving very large sums of public and private money and to personal and private data.
LCFSs and LCFTs are charged with creating an anti-fraud culture, deterring and preventing fraud, detecting and professionally investigating crime, working towards the imposition of effective sanctions and creating effective measures to recover monies lost. It is not enough merely to ensure that propriety is maintained, it is essential that there is never any perception of impropriety. It is for this reason that particularly stringent checks are in place in relation to LCFSs and LCFTs.
Any case of actual suspicion of fraud by a person employed as an LCFS or LCFT will be treated in the same way as cases of suspicion elsewhere in the NHS, with appropriate enquiries and, if necessary, disciplinary procedures being undertaken. This procedure is designed to ensure that those circumstances do not arise.