Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Whittingham Hospital.
- Great Britain. Committee of Inquiry into Whittingham Hospital.
- Date:
- [1972]
Licence: Open Government Licence
Credit: Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Whittingham Hospital. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![8. FINANCIAL CONTROL 96. In our Introduction we referred to the extensive audit investigation launched by the Department in September, 1969. The Interim and Final Reports produced by the auditors are at Appendix VI. These compre- hensively cover the problem of control of patients’ money at Whittingham and we wish to associate ourselves with their findings. We have already considered the allegations of fraud in Chapter 3. In this Chapter we do no more than comment briefly on the general question of financial control, discuss further evidence that was brought out at the hearing and add our own. recommendations. 97. It was pointed out to us in evidence that control of patients’ money has proved a perennial problem wherever there are large numbers of patients, many of whom are incapable of themselves looking after their money, and over-burdened nursing staff whose primary task is the health of the patients, not their financial affairs. So far, apparently, it has not proved possible to devise any system under which nurses are not involved in handling patients’ cash. The general aims of control have been to reduce the amount of money circulating in wards to the amounts which patients require and to arrange satisfactory accounting procedures for money so handled. Payments have been made to patients from various sources: (1) patients’ own private money ; (2) social security benefits ; (3) pocket money for indigent patients ; (4) reward payments for work done. Until recently the system at Whittingham has been for cash to be delivered to wards from the Treasurer’s Department and signed for by the Charge Nurse in books and schedules provided ; and then issued to patients, who either sign for it themselves or have staff sign on their behalf. We understand that there have been no comprehensive written instructions for handling cash on the wards: nurses said in evidence that they knew of none and had received only brief oral instruction. 98. Plainly this system was wide open to abuse; and abused it has been at Whittingham Hospital. Audit enquiries showed that the ward records were almost valueless. In some cases amounts had been signed for by patients but not received ; the original entries were frequently scratched out or otherwise altered ; although schedules certified that payments had been witnessed, witnessing had been only rarely carried out; and in any case it was common for patients to hand money back to nursing staff. It has been the practice for nurses to use cash received from the Treasurer to buy cigarettes, sweets, clothing and many types of food and drink for patients from the hospital shop or even from outside the hospital; and while some wards kept records of this others kept none. It has also been the custom for nurses to sell to patients cigarettes bought either privately or from the hospital shop. 3]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32223444_0047.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
