A former NHS manager has been jailed after pleading guilty to fraud which saw £123,000 diverted from patients and most of the funds used for gambling instead, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said.
Between August 2022 and December 2023, Alec Gandy, then a senior operational manager at Dudley Integrated Health and Care Trust, created two fictitious workers.
Using the details of a friend and his ex-wife who were in on the ruse, Gandy logged the pair as a physician’s assistant and a paramedic before authorising fraudulent invoices to them. The CPS said they then transferred significant portions of the money back to him.
Gandy, 42, of Kidderminster, was jailed for two-and-a-half years.
He had previously admitted fraud by abuse of position, the CPS said.
The director of finances at the trust where Gandy offended said the money could have paid for four nursing associates or two community paramedics for a year.
Gandy’s accomplice Matthew Lane, 44, of Evesham, and Kaylee Wright, 38, of Kidderminster, pleaded guilty to money laundering offences, the CPS stated.
Lane was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and was ordered to carry out 200 hours of work.
Wright was given an 18-month community order, and was ordered to carry out 25 days of rehabilitation activity.
Following Gandy’s sentencing at Wolverhampton Crown Court, the CPS said analysis revealed he spent more than £92,000 of the money on gambling activities and transferred a further £12,000 to his own businesses.
“This was a calculated scheme that diverted significant public funds away from frontline patient care,” said Ben Harrison, from NHS Counter Fraud Authority.
“Our investigation, with the support of West Mercia Police and the subsequent prosecution by colleagues at the Crown Prosecution Service revealed a deliberate abuse of position, with Gandy exploiting his senior role to manipulate NHS payment systems for personal gain.”
