The NHSCFA understands there are many instances where action taken by NHS organisations has led to the cancellation of a contractual arrangement with a supplier to avoid identified risks.
NHSCFA asked questions around new suppliers that were in the process of being onboarded, but had contracts cancelled and/or payments clawed back due to identified risk (following information relating to suspicious financial transactions and/or concerns around company liquidity and activities).
The impact of local activity was evaluated where supplier contracts (either in the process of being onboarded, or under active consideration) were cancelled and/or payments clawed back due to identified risk, following information received, or due diligence undertaken, relating to suspicious financial transactions and concerns around company liquidity and/or activities. In this respect, NHSCFA identified £10m (£10,055,391.89) savings.
It is important that these instances are captured as successful outcomes so that the value of proactive counter fraud activity at a local level can be reported on a national level.
This savings figure is a culmination of 20 contracts across 12 NHS organisations in England (11) and Wales (1).
This methodology was proposed to the Cabinet Office Prevention Savings Panel by the Department of Health and Social Care's Anti-Fraud Unit and accepted. The cases identified have not necessarily concluded that fraud occurred based on the civil ‘balance of probability’ test, however, they are the result of information shared with a view to prevent and detect fraud. Contracts were terminated following review via contractual grounds due to a deemed evaluation of high risk, and as a result of suspicious activity reporting from banks and other sources. In some cases, there was a potential for fraudulent activity, but the payments/contracts had been stopped as highlighted, as a disruption and prevention measure.
These outcomes were generated from actions arising from activity by the LCFSs / local NHS organisation. The savings highlighted were validated by each NHS organisation’s LCFS and signed off by the organisation’s Director of Finance, as well as peer reviewed by NHSCFA’s Data Strategy Group.
NHSCFA’s Data Strategy Group provides assurance to the Executive Management Team and the Board. It acts as a conduit for the measuring and application of quantifiable findings for data exercises within NHSCFA at point of commencement and conclusion ensuring there is consistency in terms of how the related metrics are applied, utilised, and recorded.