DEAN ARMITAGE FROM BRADFORD STEALS NHS FUNDS AT MANCHESTER MENTAL HEALTH UNIT

A healthcare professional employed at a mental health facility in Greater Manchester has been convicted of a significant financial crime involving the theft of tens of thousands of pounds. Dean Armitage, aged 33, who served as a ward manager at an unnamed NHS mental health unit in Manchester, was found guilty of orchestrating a scheme to fraudulently claim wages and holiday pay for numerous shifts he never worked.

Armitage's role within the hospital granted him access to the trust’s shift booking system, a digital platform used to manage staff schedules and assign work hours. Exploiting this access, he began creating fictitious, backdated overtime shifts during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, starting in April 2020. Prosecutors allege that he manipulated the system to generate additional shifts under his name, which he then claimed through the NHS staff bank—a system designed to allow healthcare workers to pick up extra shifts to address staffing shortages.

The fraudulent activities resulted in Armitage pocketing a total of £72,632.72. This sum was accumulated through the false claiming of wages and holiday pay for 185 shifts that he never actually worked. The case was brought before Bradford Crown Court, where Armitage pleaded guilty last November to charges of Fraud by Abuse of Position. On Thursday, May 15, the court sentenced him to eighteen months in prison for his crimes.

Following his conviction, Armitage was dismissed from his position at the mental health trust due to gross misconduct. His case has also been referred to the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the regulatory body overseeing nurses and midwives, which has currently suspended him from practicing as a nurse. Kevin Howells, the Anti-Fraud Manager for the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, expressed the trust’s stance on the matter: “We welcome the outcome and sentencing in this case, given the very serious nature of fraud involved and the impact on NHS funds. In addition to being permanently barred from working bank shifts for the trust again, Mr. Dean Armitage has been reported to the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the independent regulator of nurses, midwives and nursing associates. In light of this case, we have sought assurance from the agency from which Mr. Armitage was hired that it has taken immediate action to tighten its procedures to protect the NHS from fraud of this nature in the future. GMMH is committed to the elimination of any type of fraud and will always rigorously investigate anything of this nature.”

Ben Harrison, Head of Operations at the National Health Service Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA), also commented on the case: “We are pleased with the outcome of this investigation. I want to thank the trust, alongside both the Local Counter Fraud Service (LCFS) and NHSCFA colleagues, for the action they took in this case. Armitage clearly exploited his position of trust to divert NHS funding from much-needed patient care. This case highlights the importance and effectiveness of the local counter fraud efforts across the NHS in uncovering and taking action against individuals who commit this kind of fraud.”