NHS fraud and error 'costing the UK £7bn a year'

Fraud is costing the NHS £5bn a year, with a further £2bn lost to errors, the former head of its anti-fraud section says.

The amount lost to fraud alone could pay for nearly 250,000 new nurses, a report seen by Panorama suggests.

The NHS must "get on with tackling the problem", said Jim Gee, co-author of the Portsmouth University study and ex-director of NHS Counter Fraud Services.

The Department of Health said it "did not recognise" the figures.

The amount estimated by Mr Gee, who led the NHS anti-fraud section for eight years, is 20 times that recorded in the government's annual fraud indicator report.

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