Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the ability of the (a) Care Quality Commission and (b) NHS Counter Fraud Authority to take action against companies that charge NHS Trusts for contracted support hours that individuals do not receive.
The Care Quality Commission’s remit focuses on the quality of care provided to people that use services. Its remit does not extend to identifying and tackling fraud against National Health Service providers. However, should it identify any fraudulent activity whether during an inspection, via wider monitoring of services, or via members of the public, it would notify the responsible organisation, including the NHS Counter Fraud Authority.
Where information is received by the NHS Counter Fraud Authority raising a suspicion of fraud committed by those providing contracted services to or on behalf of the NHS, where appropriate, a criminal investigation will be undertaken and prosecution of those suspected of committing fraud sought. Any abuse of systems to perpetrate fraud are reviewed by the NHS Counter Fraud Authority to inform the development of future prevention measures.