Top doctor conned NHS out of £24,000 through fraudulent overtime claims

A TOP doctor conned £24,000 in NHS overtime pay by logging work just one minute after his shifts ended.

Consultant radiologist John Coffey, 53, regularly worked on X-rays during his normal daytime hours.

Calculating Coffey had agreed to help catch-up on a backlog of X-rays as overtime after he finished his day at 5pm.

Preston crown court heard, when the crooked quack was first approached about helping with the backlog he had refused the extra work outright.

Then additional funds were made available and Coffey managed to find the time.

The doctor was doing the extra work during the day, then waiting until 5.01pm to file his hours, so all the X-rays were paid at a higher rate.

When first confronted about the anomalies in his time reporting Coffey had claimed that technically the work had been completed out of hours.

The fraud was costing the NHS a loss of up to £400 day at certain points.

The disgraced doctor, who earned up to £102,000 a year, admitted carrying out the fraud at the Royal Preston Hospital, Lancs.

He has paid the £24,000 back but could face jail when he is sentenced in March at Preston crown court. Sue Frith, managing director of NHS Protect, said: “John Coffey abused his position of trust as a Consultant Radiologist to defraud the NHS of nearly £24,000.

“That much could have paid a nurse for a year.”