London hospital chief jailed for £200K NHS

Thursday 10th June 2010

A senior NHS manager who bought horse semen, thoroughbred horses and numerous other goods and services for her private stud business with NHS funds was today jailed for two years and nine months at Southwark Crown Court for defrauding the National Health Service of over £200,000 (Thursday 10th June, 2010). The sentence follows an extensive joint investigation by the NHS Counter Fraud Service (NHS CFS) and the Metropolitan Police.

Louise Tomkins, 47, of Faygate, Horsham, West Sussex, earlier pleaded guilty to one charge of making a false representation, contrary to The Fraud Act 2006, covering the period July 2007 to September 2008. Sentencing was adjourned to allow her to achieve the best prices for some of her horses in the Spring horse sales, with a view to the NHS being paid back. The Economic Crime Unit of Hammersmith Police has commenced confiscation proceedings to recover the money.

Tomkins abused her positions of trust, first as a general manager at the former Hammersmith Hospital NHS Trust (now Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust) and then as interim Director of Operations for Ealing Hospital NHS Trust, to divert public money.

In order to pay the high costs of her private horse and stud farm business, she fabricated and manipulated invoices which she took into work and then authorised for payment by the NHS. Tomkins ensured her employers paid for numerous goods and services that the hospitals did not require nor receive – including the import of thoroughbred horses and horse semen from world class stud farms in several European countries.

A huge number of invoices for hundreds, or thousands, of pounds each were doctored by Tomkins, who was imaginative in disguising them as legitimate payments to NHS suppliers: she altered one for £3,000 to claim it was for a “titanium skull cap” for a patient, another to “prosthetic limbs”. A £4,000 bill for a new specialist CCTV system at her stables was claimed to be for a hospital CCTV system. Many bills were for stabling fees (typically £150 per week per horse) and rent for fields and farm buildings. These and other invoices (from innocent suppliers to her horse business) were transformed into invoices for everything from “paediatric services” and “psychological support for breast cancer patients” to payment for “locums” and “administrative support” and sundry hospital hardware such as “two portable washing aid units” (£8,000).

Her role at the Hammersmith Hospital included acting as a Fund Advisor for hospital charitable funds, which she misused, again through falsified invoices, to benefit her own business.

Tomkins was suspended by Imperial College NHS Trust on 23rd September 2008 shortly after allegations were first made. She was charged at Hammersmith and Fulham police station on 11th August 2009 and at a disciplinary hearing held by the Trust on 27th November 2009 she
was dismissed for gross misconduct. The investigation also prevented the payment of a substantial redundancy package of £41,944.00 about to be given to Tomkins, to settle a grievance she had brought against the Trust.

Even while under investigation, she continued to seek employment in the NHS using employment agencies, under the guises of ‘Tonka Joud’ and ‘Rosemarie Joud’.

Kevin Cane, London Regional Team Manager of the NHS Counter Fraud Service, said today: “This was a very serious matter. LouiseTomkins flagrantly abused her very senior positions, positions of trust. She deliberately diverted NHS resources away from frontline services and patient care for her own gain. Anyone who seeks to defraud the National Health Service needs to understand that they will be investigated, and could ultimately go to jail and destroy their career.”

Tomkins was prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service.