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 2024/5

The Trust is required by law to protect the public funds it administers. It may share information provided to it with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, in order to prevent and detect fraud.

Data matching involves comparing computer records held by one body against other computer records held by the same or another body to see how far they match.  This is usually personal information. Computerised data matching allows potentially fraudulent claims and payments to be identified. Where a match is found it may indicate that there is an inconsistency which requires further investigation. No assumption can be made as to whether there is fraud, error or other explanation until an investigation is carried out.

The Cabinet Office requires us to participate in a data matching exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud. The processing of data by the Cabinet Office in a data matching exercise is carried out with statutory authority under its powers in  Part 6 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under data protection legislation or the GDPR.

We are required to provide particular sets of data to the Cabinet Office for matching for each exercise, and these are set out in the  Cabinet Office’s guidance. The National Fraud Initiative  privacy notice  sets out how the Cabinet Office will use personal data and an individual’s rights.

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 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

Our strategy

The Trust Strategy [pdf] 1MB sets out our vision, values and strategic objectives for 2021-2026.

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.