NHS fraudbuster to speak at professional body's egm

Jim Gee, appointed director of counter fraud services at the Department of Health six weeks ago, will give a keynote address on 'strategy and action for countering fraud in the NHS' at the Federation of Ophthalmic and Dispensing Opticians egm on November 27, at London's Café Royal. His appointment followed a series of police investigations into prescription fraud which started last year, involving optical professionals, several of which are still in progress. This year the Department of Health estimated total losses from fraud in the Family Health Services alone cost the Government &\#163;85m to &\#163;115m, aside from that perpetrated by NHS contractors. Mr Gee's appointment was announced in June (optician, News, June 5). He was previously at Lambeth Council where he spear- headed a campaign which reduced fraud from &\#163;60m to &\#163;30m annually, and sacked more than 120 for fraud and corruption, after he established a corporate anti-fraud team. FODO's computerisation working group hopes to have an improved system to counter NHS optical prescription fraud, helped by the Dental Practice Board, in place by the latter half of next year (optician, News Feature, May 29, 1998). Mr Gee's speech will be followed by a seminar entitled 'seeing crime coming', which will reveal the results of FODO's survey on professionals' views on practice theft, with methods to prevent crime.