Fraudsters have conned the NHS out of more than £7bn in six years

Scammers have swindled the NHS out of more than £7billion over the past six years, analysis shows.

The number would have been enough to pay the salaries of 17,000 nurses and 8,000 general practitioners.

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Analysis by Labor shows healthcare lost an extra £54m to fraud, bribery and corruption last year compared to 2019/20.

A criminal gang stole £300,000 worth of medical supplies before selling them back to the NHS.

Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health secretary, said: “The Government is letting scammers get away with stealing public money and taxpayers are paying the price.

“If the Tories weren’t so relaxed about criminals running off with billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money, they could afford to train the doctors and nurses the NHS needs.”

The Department for Health and Social Care’s annual accounts show £1.2billion of the NHS budget 20/21 was lost to fraud.

Health Secretary Edward Argar previously revealed the NHS lost £6.2billion to fraud in the five years to 19/20.

In addition to this year’s figures, a total of almost £7.4 billion in NHS money has been lost to fraud over the last six years.

The figures include fraud by a criminal gang that has diverted £1.2million in payments from separate NHS trusts.

They include a Westminster dentist who made 378 fraudulent claims totaling £73,000 while working a two-day week instead of the five-day week she claimed.

It comes after a fake psychiatrist who made more than £1million from the NHS faces jail for fraud.

Zholia Alemi faked a medical degree from New Zealand to register here in 1995 and then got jobs at several trusts.

She worked with potentially vulnerable patients and earned between £1million and £1.3million