NHS chief ‘must be held to account’ for missing £28m

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt was today urged to order a NHS boss to explain how £28 million of public funds went “missing”.

A joint report of six London councils has raised serious concerns about Croydon Primary Care Trust while former chief executive Caroline Taylor was the “accountable officer”.

In 2010/11, the trust claimed that it had a £5.5 million surplus, when in fact the organisation — which paid for GP services and public health work to reduce the risk of major diseases — was £22 million in debt.

However, Ms Taylor, now in charge of dismantling the South London Healthcare Trust after it went bust following soaring costs of PFI projects at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, refused to appear before the council inquiry, as did the PCT’s interim finance director, Mark Phillips. The report said that Mr Phillips, a former nightclub owner, did not have the required accountancy qualifications.

The report called on the NHS to conduct an investigation into officers whose “action or inaction” had been the root cause of the overspend, and the subsequent “cover-up”.

It found that financial management was so poor that it was not possible to track where the money had been spent. Insiders suggested that GPs may have been paid for work not carried out.

Jason Cummings, the Croydon councillor who chaired the investigation, said: “This was not the result of any system failure, but a consequence of the action of individuals, who have still to explain their actions. We now call on the Department of Health to ensure the relevant officers can be publicly held to account.” Ms Taylor did not respond to a request for a comment.