Annual report and accounts

Fraud

All organisations providing NHS services must put in place appropriate counter fraud arrangements.

Fraud is a dishonest act with the intention of making a gain or causing loss, or risk of loss, to another, such as:

  • Working while sick
  • Stealing property
  • Timesheet fraud
  • Fake qualifications/identity
  • Salary overpayments

If you think Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, or our representatives are being deceived by a third party for personal financial gain, report your concerns in confidence to the NHS Counter Fraud Authority on 0800 028 40 60.

 

Anti-crime specialists

Our anti-crime specialists are Andrew Ede and Hannah Wenlock, who are qualified and certified to deal with criminal investigations in the NHS, including disciplinary and civil sanctions.

 

Anti-fraud, bribery and corruption statement - August 2025

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust is committed to eliminating fraud, bribery, and corruption in the NHS, protecting public resources for health and care. The Trust does not tolerate any form of fraud, bribery, and corruption by its staff, agents, or consultants or any other persons or entities acting for or on its behalf. The Board and senior management are committed to implementing and enforcing effective systems throughout the Trust to prevent, deter, monitor, and eliminate fraud, bribery, and corruption.

Our Anti-Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Policy and Procedures applies to all employees, bank and locum staff, patients, consultants, contractors, suppliers, internal and external stakeholders.

Fraud involves dishonestly making a false representation, failing to disclose information or abusing a position held, with the intention of making a financial gain or causing a financial loss. The gain or loss does not have to succeed for fraud to have been perpetrated, as long as the intent is there. The Fraud Act 2006 came into force on 15 January 2007 and applies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Under the Failure to Prevent Fraud offence which came into force on  1 September 2025, an organisation will be criminally liable where a fraud offence is committed by an employee, agent, or other ‘associated’ person, with the intention of deriving a benefit for the organisation or a related body; and, the organisation did not have ‘reasonable’ fraud prevention procedures in place. It does not need to be shown that managers ordered or knew about the fraud. The Trust falls within the scope of the offence as a large organisation.

Bribery is a financial advantage or other reward that offered to, given to, or received by an individual or company, whether directly or indirectly, to induce or influence that individual or company to perform public or corporate functions or duties improperly. Employees and others acting for or on behalf of the Trust are strictly prohibited from making, soliciting or receiving any bribes or unauthorised payments.

To minimise the risk of unfounded allegations of bribery or corruption, if staff are offered hospitality or gifts or are considering offering any to another person they should refer to the conflicts of interest policy and procedure [RWF-COR-COR-POL-2]. This provides details of the circumstances in which this would be acceptable and the level which can be given or received. Staff are reminded all hospitality and gifts received, offered or declined should be declared using the form accessible from the policy.

The Trust does not tolerate offences of fraud, bribery, or corruption, and will investigate any suspected acts of fraud, bribery, or corruption, misappropriation or irregularity and take full and appropriate action against any wrongdoing.

Any information about suspicions of fraud, bribery, or corruption can be reported in confidence to the Counter Fraud team or the NHS Counter Fraud Authority using the contact details above.

 

National Fraud Initiative 2026/27

The Trust is required by law to protect the public funds we administer. In order to prevent and detect fraud, we may share the information you provide with other organisations that audit or administer public funds. The Cabinet Office is responsible for carrying out data matching exercises.

Data matching involves comparing computer records held by one organisation with those held by the same or another organisation to identify the extent of any matches. These records usually contain personal information. Computerised data matching assists in identifying potentially fraudulent claims and payments. Where a match is identified, it may point to an inconsistency that needs further investigation. No conclusion can be drawn about whether this is fraud, error or another explanation until an investigation has taken place.

We participate in the Cabinet Office’s National Fraud Initiative: a data matching exercise that supports the prevention and detection of fraud – see guidance. We take privacy very seriously. Your data will always be handled securely and responsibly. Further details are available in the privacy notice guidance, which explains how your personal data will be used as part of the Cabinet Office’s NFI data matching exercise to support fraud prevention and detection.

The Cabinet Office carries out data matching under statutory powers set out in Part 6 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. This processing is carried out under statutory powers and does not require the consent of individuals concerned under data protection legislation or the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For further details on why specific information is matched, see Code of Data Matching Practice for the National Fraud Initiative – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

For further information on data matching at the Trust please contact Hannah Wenlock, Anti-Crime Specialist on hannah.wenlock@nhs.net or Andrew Ede, TIAA's Head of Investigations at andrew.ede1@nhs.net. 

Further information on how the NFI has assisted the NHS and other public sector organisations can also be found at National Fraud Initiative case studies – GOV.UK. 

Same-sex accommodation declaration

We offer single sex wards at Maidstone Hospital and Fordcombe Hospital, and Tunbridge Wells Hospital has single en-suite rooms on all wards.

Single sex accommodation may be provided in single sex wards and single sex bays or rooms within mixed wards. 

Declaration of compliance with eliminating mixed sex accommodation [pdf] 151KB

In exceptional circumstances, where a patient needs urgent or specialist care in areas such as Accident and Emergency, the Intensive Care Unit, Coronary Care Unit, Stroke Unit or recovery, mixing men and women may be unavoidable.

We work to resolve such situations as quickly as possible and will keep patients and their families informed.

During these times, our priority is to maintain patients’ privacy and dignity.

If you have any concerns about privacy and dignity, please speak to the ward sister/charge nurse in the first instance or the matron for the area. You can also share any feedback and concerns with our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) team.

Safe staffing

We are committed to maintaining a safe environment for patients and staff by ensuring the right staff, with the right skills, are in the right place at the right time (National Quality Board, 2016).

In line with requirements set out by NHS England following the Francis Report (2013), all NHS organisations must publish monthly nursing and midwifery staffing data, making this information publicly accessible.

The Safer Staffing Report includes:

  • Planned vs. actual staffing hours, broken down by staff groups (such as registered nurses/midwives, and non-registered clinical staff).
  • Care hours per patient per day (CHPPD) for more information, visit NHS Improvement.

This report shows how many nursing staff we should have on our inpatient wards and how many we actually have.  

Staffing levels are reviewed several times a day by clinical divisions and can fluctuate to ensure we can meet the needs of our sickest patients.  

The Safe Staffing Report is presented and reviewed at Board meetings to ensure our staffing levels are sufficient to provide safe care and, if they fall short, to be able to demonstrate what actions we have taken to ensure patient safety and quality of care are being delivered. 

2026

2025

Our strategy documents

Our strategy

The Trust Strategy [pdf] 3MB sets out our vision, values and strategic objectives for 2026-2031.

The strategy is as a guide for future activity and planning across the Trust, and collaborations with other health and care organisations to improve the overall health of local people.

Our trust strategy is underpinned by more detailed strategies:

 

Trade union facility time reporting

Trade union facility time is when an employee takes time off from their normal role to carry out duties and activities as a trade union representative.

We are required to report this information annually and it is published on the government website.