Phil Wadeson, director of finance at Central Liverpool PCT, spoke to optician following the appearance of Merseyside optometrist John Walsby-Tickle at Liverpool Crown Court last week.
Wadeson confirmed that the PCT would be pursuing Walsby-Tickle in a civil action for 'several hundred thousand pounds' from the practitioner and his dispensing optician sister, Pamela Tickle.
'We are applying the same rigorous verification processes across all our contractor payments and will not tolerate abuse of a system that is dependent on a high level of mutual trust to work effectively,' he said.
'In my view, anyone who seeks to defraud the NHS of its hard-pressed resources deserves nothing but contempt, and we will pursue them relentlessly, as in this case.'
Walsby-Tickle was a director of A E Walsby (Opticians), the 13-branch chain which was wound up last year.
In court last week the 50-year- old admitted fraudulently claiming £600 from Liverpool Health Authority (LHA), and pleaded guilty to six specimen charges, reported The Liverpool Daily Post (October 15).
Pamela Tickle was discharged after the prosecution offered no evidence of conspiracy to defraud the LHA and NHS between April 1996 and March 1998, the newspaper stated.
Walsby-Tickle also denied similar conspiracy charges and was discharged after the prosecution offered no evidence against him.
However, he pleaded guilty to six specimen offences of obtaining property by deception from the LHA during April 1996 to December 1997, and the PCT reported these offences included fictitious repairs and claims for spectacles not provided to patients.
Walsby-Tickle pleaded guilty on the basis that A E Walsby had benefited by £600.
Wadeson told the paper: 'While the criminal case is now concluded, our lawyers continue to seek the recovery of what we believe may be several hundred thousand pounds from both John Walsby-Tickle and his sister, Pamela.
'We pro-actively investigated this matter and involved the police and our lawyers at the earliest opportunity.'
www.centralliverpoolpct.nhs.uk
The director of finance at a north west PCT has said it will 'relentlessly' pursue health professionals who defraud the NHS after an optometrist admitted in court to making fraudulent claims.