Fighting the fraudsters

The temptation of cash in the practice has led to an estimated one in three practices being defrauded - often by seemingly longstanding, loyal, staff, according to Optisoft, provider of the UK's most widely used practice management software.

'Perhaps more than any other retail sector, optics is wide open to fraud as so many practices still use a traditional till or, even worse, a cash box and manual ledger,' said Optisoft managing director, Keith Sheers.

Reliance on outdated systems can cost a practice dearly, as the owner of one national independent discovered.

The owner - who wishes to remain anonymous - lost a significant amount of money over a period of many years. However, on sharing his tale with other practitioners, he soon realised he was far from the only one. Staff fraud, he learned, is far more widespread than many would like to admit.