A former staff member at a Derbyshire GP practice has pleaded guilty to fraud, after admitting to stealing over £20,000.
According to Derbyshire Constabulary, Kim Allsopp, who worked in the dispensary at a practice in Hartington, had been falsely stating that cash had been banked.
At a magistrates court hearing at the end of June, Ms Allsopp pleaded guilty to charges of fraud by abuse of position and acquiring, using, or possessing criminal property.
The police force revealed that the 36-year-old had taken on responsibility for banking cash payments for prescriptions and other items in October 2019.
But in September 2022, accountants discovered ‘discrepancies’ in the GP practice’s accounts, amounting to a shortfall of £22,000.
No cash payments had been made for three years, and during this time, Ms Allsopp had been updating the internal systems at the surgery to falsely state that the cash had been banked.
Derbyshire Constabulary said in a statement: ‘She initially denied having anything to do with the missing money – maintaining that she deposited the money and that she had simply lost the receipts.’
Following her guilty plea last month, Ms Allsopp will be sentenced at a hearing at a future date.
Last year, a former GP practice manager who stole more than £155,000 from a practice while having an affair with a doctor was ordered to pay £41,000 in compensation.
The investigation showed that she had been moving money to her own account disguised as bogus payments to locum doctors and office supply firms.
The Department of Health and Social Care launched a counter-fraud strategy last year which identified primary care as a key risk area to focus on in the next three years.
