NHS manager who gambled away £92,000 of trust’s budget is jailed
An NHS manager who withdrew more than £120,000 from his trust to fuel his gambling addiction has been sentenced to prison.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) revealed that Alec Gandy, a senior operational manager at Dudley Integrated Health and Care NHS Trust, orchestrated a scheme involving fake casual worker accounts.
Gandy created fictional roles as a physician’s assistant for his friend Matthew Lane and a paramedic for his ex-wife Kaylee Wright.
He then authorized invoices totaling more than £123,000 to be paid into these accounts.
Most of this money was then funneled back to Gandy, 42, who spent more than £92,000 on gambling and diverted an additional £12,000 into his own businesses, the CPS said.
The fraud lasted 16 months, starting in August 2022. When the Dudley trust uncovered the illegal activity, it alerted the NHS Fraud Authority, which launched an investigation following Gandy’s departure from office.
A victim impact statement from the trust’s finance director heard in court highlighted that the stolen funds could have significantly improved patient care, enough to cover the salaries of four nursing staff for a year.
Gandy, of Kidderminster, Worcestershire, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday, having previously admitted fraud by abuse of power.
His accomplices Lane, 44, of Evesham, Worcestershire, and Wright, 38, also of Kidderminster, pleaded guilty to money laundering.
Lane was given a 12-month suspended prison sentence with 18 months and 200 hours of unpaid work, while Wright was given an 18-month community order and 25 days of rehabilitation activity.
Condemning the actions, CPS specialist prosecutor Ben Reid said: “This case represents a serious breach of trust which has led to the diversion of vital NHS funds for patient care.
“While Gandy abused his responsibility as a public official, Lane and Wright knowingly participated in the scheme to facilitate this fraud.”
He added that the fraud was not victimless, caused financial loss and required extensive internal investigations.
The CPS confirmed it would be bringing confiscation proceedings against Gandy.
Ben Harrison, head of operations at the NHS Fraud Authority, underlined the importance of the result: “This result confirms the value of our robust and objective approach to ensuring anyone who tries to defraud the NHS is brought to justice. This was a calculated scheme to divert significant public funds away from frontline patient care.”
