"Selling them on meant pure profit for these defendants."
Two pharmacists who conned the NHS out of £1.3 million by dispensing fake prescriptions for cancer medication have each been jailed for six years.
Jignesh Patel and Rahil Patel, who are unrelated, used the identities of hundreds of genuine patients to submit fraudulent claims between 2014 and 2017.
The pair created 1,639 false prescriptions involving 440 patients, 24 GPs and 6,983 dispensed items.
The fraud affected four NHS areas: Barnet, Enfield, Newham and Tower Hamlets.
Investigators found that most of the prescriptions originated from Wise Pharmacy on Fore Street in Edmonton, north London.
Barnet Clinical Commissioning Group first identified discrepancies between prescriptions submitted by pharmacies and patient records. An investigation by the NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) subsequently uncovered the scale of the fraud.
Jignesh Patel was the director of Wise Pharmacy and also directed Actipharm Limited, a nearby wholesale pharmacy supplier licensed by the medical regulator in 2008. Rahil Patel had worked for Actipharm since 2014.
The investigation found that Wise Pharmacy had dispensed two expensive medicines classified as ‘Red List’ drugs: Sprycel, which treats leukaemia, and Noxafil, used to treat fungal infections during chemotherapy.
Five other medicines were also identified: Atripla, Eviplera, Tobramycin, Truvada and Viread.
Prosecutors alleged that Actipharm was used to facilitate the export of medicines obtained through the fraudulent prescriptions. The company made around £780,000 selling drugs to two wholesalers in the European Union, where free trade arrangements allowed their movement during the period in question.
Despite being “highly unusual”, investigators found that 150 prescriptions for Sprycel and Noxafil had been dispensed by Wise Pharmacy between January 2015 and June 2016.
Opening the prosecution case, William Davis KC told jurors:
“This case is about a fraud against the NHS which was committed by these two defendants. The fraud cost the NHS, and ultimately the taxpayer, about £1.3m.
“When a doctor issues a patient with a prescription to get the medicine, the patient takes it to a pharmacist. The pharmacist dispenses medication to the patient. They usually hold medicine in stock on the premises.
“Although many patients pay a charge, they don’t pay the cost of the medicine itself. That cost is covered by all of us: the taxpayer.
“The pharmacy bears the upfront cost of the medication. When it dispenses, the pharmacy submits a claim for the cost of the medicine. Broadly speaking, the NHS reimburses this.
“The prosecution case is that these two defendants submitted claims to the NHS for large numbers of completely false prescriptions.
“It’s a sinister feature of the evidence in this case, the names of hundreds of NHS patients were used on these false prescriptions. They do exist, but the evidence shows they were simply not prescribed by any doctor.
“Investigators identified some 1,636 false prescriptions which were submitted by the Wise Pharmacy in a period between 2014 and 2017.
“The motive for submitting false prescriptions was to sell the drugs because the NHS had paid for the drugs. Selling them on meant pure profit for these defendants.”
Text messages between the pharmacists discussing medicines and obtaining false prescriptions were also presented during the trial.
Both defendants denied the charges but were found guilty of three counts of fraud by false representation and two counts of converting criminal property relating to offences committed between 2014 and 2017.
Sentencing the men, Judge Justin Cole criticised their actions and the impact on public resources.
He said: “This fraud deprived an already strained NHS of substantial funds.
“You deprived the community of precious drugs including drugs for leukaemia, all for the sake of personal greed.”
“You both intended to get rich on the re-sale of the drugs on the open market.
“The overwhelming inference is that this offence was committed out of greed…”
Referring to the financial impact, he said: “The loss to the NHS was a little over a million pounds.”
Judge Cole acknowledged that no identifiable harm had been caused directly to patients beyond the misuse of their identities. However, he recognised the wider consequences of the fraud.
Addressing Jignesh Patel, Judge Cole said: “You will quite rightly be struck off as a pharmacist.”
Both men received six-year prison sentences and were disqualified from acting as company directors for six years. They will serve half of their prison sentences in custody.
Police also seized £190,000 during searches of Jignesh Patel’s properties following his arrest in December 2017.
The NHSCFA intends to recover the stolen funds under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
