Legal Threat In South East Over Patients’ Cash

A Cornwall mental health trust faces legal action over alleged misuse of patients’ money by staff.  Claims of misuse at some Cornwall Partnership NHS Trust homes were made in an inspectors’ report last year.

Truro solicitor Richard Scrase, who has been looking at the cases, reckons the figure for misuse of patients’ money could be about £2m.

The trust said it was taking the allegations “very seriously” and appealed for further evidence.

‘Widespread abuse’

One young woman, who worked at several of the trust’s homes, told BBC Inside Out South West that staff had used residents’ money that they had saved from their benefits to pay for staff expenses when they went on trips and holidays, things like food and petrol.

The woman, who did not want to be identified, said staff also used the money of a deaf resident to buy an expensive music system and CDs which staff would then freely take home to borrow.

Another woman, whose brain-damaged son was at a different home, said he had been paying for fax and telephone services he was not capable of using.

Since the report by by the Healthcare Commission and Commission for Social Care Inspection, Cornwall Partnership NHS Trust has been put in special measures and Budock Hospital in Falmouth, which was criticised for “widespread institutional abuse” of patients, has been shut down.

The trust also handed over the care of nearly 170 people in 46 community homes to the county council.

After the report the Audit Commission and the NHS Counter Fraud Service were asked to look into whether financial abuse had gone on.

But the Audit Commission said they were not carrying out any investigation. The NHS Counter Fraud Service, which investigates fraud against the NHS, said it had found “no specific evidence of criminal behaviour”.

Mr Scrase said that unless there was some official action on the claims of misuse of patients’ cash “very soon”, then the only way forward was a group legal action against the trust.

Cornwall Partnership NHS Trust said in a statement: “We have recently learnt that the investigations by the NHS Counter Fraud Service into the misuse of financial resources have concluded and found no evidence of alleged fraudulent activity having taken place.

“We take allegations of this nature very seriously and we would encourage anyone with any new concerns, allegations or evidence to bring them to our attention by ringing us on 01726 291034.”

See Inside Out South West’s investigation on BBC1 on Wednesday at 1930 BST.