Paper FP10 prescriptions are being misused to fraudulently obtain “high-value” weight loss drugs, investigations have revealed.
Specialist security firm TIAA, which provides counter-fraud services to some NHS organisations, said last week that it had identified a “pattern of fraud” involving “the misuse of prescribing systems and paper FP10 prescriptions” to secure weight loss medicines, including Mounjaro.
Read more: Two arrested in MHRA’s ‘largest ever’ illegal weight loss drugs bust
The company said paper FP10 prescriptions are targeted for fraud because they enable “reduced oversight, ease of forgery” and the “avoidance of secondary checks”.
It added that confirmed cases have led to “significant financial loss to the NHS” - with one investigation identifying around 70 fraudulent FP10 prescriptions at an estimated cost of £30,000, as well as the “involvement of a GP practice employee”.
“Consistent methods”
TIAA said that its investigations “identified consistent methods” used by fraudsters, with “clinical or administrative staff” first accessing the records of “patients already receiving relevant medications”, then “temporarily” adding a medication entry for a weight loss drug.
“The prescription is printed on a FP10 form, allowing for manual handling and a potential forged GP signature,” it noted, before the medication entry is “deleted or cancelled from the patient record to reduce audit visibility”.
Vigilant pharmacists
TIAA head of healthcare investigations Andrew Ede told C+D that concerns around this type of fraud are “most often raised through the vigilance of pharmacists who notice anomalies in prescriptions, particularly where there are questions around authenticity or clinical appropriateness”.
He added that paper FP10 prescriptions “can present a particular vulnerability, as they may bypass some of the safeguards inherent in electronic prescribing systems”.
Read more: Warning over fake online pharmacies after patient report
“That said, even where fraud occurs, robust audit trails within patient record systems mean that activity can usually be traced once concerns are raised,” Ede said.
And he added that while the “true scale” of the issue is “difficult to quantify and likely underreported, increasing awareness is a key preventative measure”.
C+D approached NHS England and Community Pharmacy England for comment.
Read more: Criminals ‘cloning’ pharmacy sites to sell fake weight loss meds
It comes after two websites appearing to sell prescription-only medicines were reported as fake online pharmacies after using a hospital’s address as their NHS registration details.
And it follows two people being arrested after the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s “largest ever” seizure of unlicensed weight loss drugs.
