I read today in "The Sunday Post" newspaper that our NHS could afford to employ another 750 nurses if they could stop the fraud that is occurring within its organisation.
Apparently in the next few days they are launching a new campaign to make employees aware of the problem with DVDs and other educational tools to make staff think about the issue and help stamp it out.
Reading that report made me want to cry and laugh at the same time.
My mind went back ten years and writing my chapter for the book Whistleblowing in the Social Services on the subject of "Acquiescence in Wrongdoing" ISBN 0 340 65245 4. I had included an extract from a survey done by the Audit Commission (a government body charged with auditing what is happening in our public bodies) that had been published four years earlier (in 1994) showing we were losing about 6 million pounds (approx 12 million dollars) a year. This did not include the laptops etc that walked out in the arms of employees and visitors and never returned. If the Audit commission had said we had a serious problem in 1994 why it take 14 years for our government to take action?
(Oh I remember now. Some of our government ministers are currently under investigation for financial mistakes in the election campaigns so they need to deflect the newspaper headlines. Or is this just me being too cynical?)
That same report also said the commission had surveyed the Heads of Internal Audits in the various health boards and one of every five of them had said they feared they would lose their job if they reported all the weaknesses in the system that they knew about to the NHS Board of Directors. The very people employed to protect our finances against fraud were afraid to speak out. What is our country coming to? Sorry what has our country already come to?
In 1995 Mike Probert Lewis from the Institute of Internal Auditors wrote "Blowing the whistle is the short way to put yourself on the long term unemployment register".
I know I did it!
We need people to stand up and be counted when it comes to fraud and theft. Nowadays someone who is putting in false mileage claims etc is referred to as "fiddling their expenses" and most people would turn a blind eye to it. Yet if we call it by its true name THEFT we would stand accused of not just turning a blind eye but "aiding and abetting in a serious crime".
Maybe if we all reported every instance of expense fiddling in every organisation we would have a country rich enough to support everyone who needed our help. I would support anyone who was willing to speak out but recommend at few safety precautions to be taken to prevent the abuser turning around and passing the blame to you. I have them spelt out in full in another article. If anyone wants them please contact me using the comments box below. Your details will not be published.