THE ROLE OF THE FRAUD LIAISON OFFICER
By Barry R Jenkins, Assistant Director of Finance, NHS Grampian
As part of the Scottish Government's policy to tackle healthcare fraud, every National Health Service body in Scotland must have an identified fraud liaison officer (FLO). Barry R Jenkins is the FLO for NHS Grampian (a Scottish region including the councils of Aberdeenshire, the city of Aberdeen and Moray), in addition to his other duties as Assistant Director of Finance.
Tell us what is the role of an FLO?
In my capacity as FLO, I take part in a two-way process - I communicate with my Board colleagues on behalf of CFS and I communicate with NHS Scotland Counter Fraud Services (CFS) on behalf of my Board.
To give you a few examples,
- I act as the first point of contact between my Board and CFS where CFS has received external intelligence on specific cases of possible fraud involving my organisation;
- I have set up a distribution network to ensure that my Board colleagues, including members of our Audit Committee, are made aware of information and reports (often containing recommendations for improving systems or procedures as a result of a particular fraud uncovered) which I receive from CFS; and
- where I receive information from my colleagues or from people outside my Board about potential cases of NHS fraud, I notify CFS of these and pass on the relevant information once I have established the facts that give reasonable grounds for suspecting that fraud has taken place or been attempted.
I also assist CFS in obtaining locally held records for their investigations into suspected fraud.
Your job is all about communicating the right information, isn't it?
Efficient communication in its widest sense is vital to the success of my counter fraud work and that of CFS and, for me, this extends to networking with other FLOs throughout Scotland and contributing to the fraud intelligence network through my own local knowledge. Additionally, I work with the media liaison officers from the CFS and from my own Board where there are enquiries from the press about local fraud cases.
Would you have a message to give to the participants in the EHFCN Annual Conference?
I realise that we can only tackle fraud successfully if we all play a role in this. I am happy to meet the challenge pro-actively and at the end of the day every fraud that we detect and prevent is more money that can be channelled into front line patient care – where it should be!
