Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 29
29
Accepted
NHS England made £1.3 million ineligible payments to suspended practitioners, with minimal recovery.
Conclusion
NHS England can make payments to medical practitioners who have been suspended, in accordance with the relevant statutory regulations and conditions. The C&AG qualified his opinion on NHS England’s accounts for the second time, as a result of it making ineligible suspension payments to medical practitioners. NHS England made payments to 12 medical practitioners who did not meet the eligibility conditions, worth £1.3 million between 2017–18 and 2022–23. NHS England has not recovered most of the payments it made. Only two of the 12 overpayments had been recovered in full by NHS England by the time the 2022–23 audit was finalised, amounting to £32,747, meaning the remaining £1,302,879 had not been recovered. The C&AG reported that NHS England had failed to establish a system of controls to ensure suspension payments were only made to medical practitioners who met the qualifying criteria and to ensure that these suspension payments were stopped promptly once the qualifying period ended.53
Government Response Summary
The government has accepted the implicit recommendation, implementing a new national process with additional checks for suspended practitioner payments from April 2024 and requesting a review of eligibility determinations. For overpayments, work is underway to recover amounts where there is a legal basis, with NHS England maintaining oversight by September 2024.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 6.2 A new process to assess the eligibility and the amount payable in relation to suspended practitioners was implemented on 1 April 2024. This new process adds an additional level of checking beyond local teams by the national team and it restricts the authority for making payments to the national team only. This provides an additional verification level and provides consistency in the assessment process and increased central oversight. 6.3 NHS England has also provided a submission to DHSC requesting the review and simplification of the Secretary of State Determinations that sets out the statutory basis relating to the eligibility criterion and amount payable when a practitioner is suspended. 6.4 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: September 2024 6.5 Our acceptance of the recommendation relates to cases for which there is a legal basis to recover the amounts overpaid where work is already underway. 6.6 NHS England will retain oversight of the progress made in relation to the recoveries agreed.