A mother of three has admitted scamming £38,000 from NHS Fife by claiming for fake taxi journeys to take her children to and from hospital.
At Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court on Monday Kathleen Duncan, 44, pleaded guilty to claiming for money on an almost daily basis over a 13-month period between 2010 and 2011.
The accused had claimed for reimbursed taxi fares of up to £160 for alleged journeys from her home in Dunfermline to and from hospital in Kirkcaldy.
Duncan has two children who suffer from Hurler’s Syndrome and require regular treatment in hospital, both as inpatients and at outpatient clinics.
Depute fiscal Dev Kapadia told the court the accused was granted permission by the hospital to travel by taxi when bringing the children to, or visiting them at, Victoria Hospital or Forth Park Hospital.
He said: “In July 2010 one of the children received a bone marrow transplant in Manchester. Up until this time the children had regularly attended at Victoria and Forth Park hospitals. Following the bone marrow transplant the children’s attendance at these hospitals was less frequent.”
Between August 1 2010 and August 29 2011 hospital records showed that between them the children had 24 outpatient appointments, and one or either was an inpatient on five separate occasions, three times for a period of two days, once for a period of five days and once for a month.
Mr Kapadia stated: “Between May 12 2011 and August 13 2011 neither child attended either Victoria or Forth Park Hospital yet a claim was made for a taxi journey for every single day during this period.”
He described how the accused forged the signatures of NHS staff needed to confirm her attendance at hospital.
To support her claims she also submitted taxi receipts which were purportedly completed by employees of A1tch Taxis.
However, the majority of the receipts had forged signatures and the fare was never entered by the driver.
“During the period of the libel the accused claimed to be travelling to the hospital by taxi on an almost daily basis,” Mr Kapadia said. “By the end of the period some of the claims were for £160 for a return journey to the hospital from Dunfermline. The majority of the claims were for £120.”
The accused was paid in cash and the offence came to light when the amount of money the cash room was holding needed to be increased.
Also an email was sent to the children’s consultant about them being in the hospital when the consultant had not seen them.
Duncan, of Moubray Grove, South Queensferry, admitted defrauding NHS Fife of £38,019.00 between August 1 2010 and August 29 2011.
Sheriff Max Hendry deferred sentence for reports. Duncan was released on bail.