A fraud probe has been launched over claims three nurses submitted bogus overtime claims to a scheme aimed at reducing hospital waiting lists.
The women are said to have been paid thousands of pounds for extra shifts that they did not work.
Payments were allegedly made to them from the Scottish Government’s Waiting List Initiative, introduced two years ago.
The initiative provides additional funds to health boards which enables them to employ more staff. A large part of that money is used to pay overtime to nurses, anaesthetists and consultants.
The three nurses, who each have more than 20 years’ experience, have all been suspended by NHS Lanarkshire for making alleged false claims.
They were employed at Monklands Hospital in Airdrie and Wishaw General in Lanarkshire.
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Some nurses can earn up to £300 at a time for performing extra work.
They are normally paid about £100 for every extra 3.5-hour session and can work up to three at a time. An investigation was launched last week by the NHS Counter Fraud Services, based in Livingston.
They said they had received a referral regarding employees claiming for shifts in relation to the waiting time initiative but could not comment further as the investigation was ongoing.
A hospital insider said: “Senior management are worried that other nurses and medical staff may be involved in this fraud which involves large sums of public money.
“You could be talking about hundreds of thousands of pounds at the end of the day.” The Waiting List Initiative is used to meet Government targets for operations.
"Extra clinics are also provided in hospitals at nights and at weekends and NHS patients are also referred to private hospitals.
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The initiative has seen a group of experts appointed help health boards improve the management of planned operations and outpatient appointments. It was brought in after health boards failed to meet Government targets.
John White, Director of Human Resources at NHS Lanarkshire said they would not comment on matters relating to individual employees.
The Scottish Government said: “Direct employment issues are a matter for the health board. We have been clear that all funding should be monitored and used appropriately.”
