Divers guilty of NHS bends fraud

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Two divers have been found guilty of swindling £250,000 from the NHS for treating bogus cases of the bends.

David Welsh, 49, from Plymstock, Devon, and 43-year-old Michael Brass from Liverpool paid strangers to pose as divers needing decompression treatment.

Welsh's Fort Bovisand diving centre in Plymouth billed health trusts £6,500 each for treating the 37 fake victims.

Both men, who will be sentenced next month, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to defraud at Plymouth Crown Court.

They were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the NHS and perverting the course of justice.

It was very easy money from just filling in forms and making up information Michael Fitton QC

The court heard Welsh and Brass only needed the real names, addresses, dates of birth and national insurance numbers of the supposed victims to carry out the fraud.

The Fort Hyperbaric diving centre at Fort Bovisand had its own decompression chamber which was also used to treat genuine cases of the bends. The condition is suffered by divers who surface too quickly and suffer nitrogen poisoning in their blood.

A hyperbaric chamber simulates deep sea conditions so the diver can gradually get rid of the condition as the pressure is reduced slowly.

The fraud was uncovered when police investigated two cases of divers from Liverpool who were supposedly treated at the chamber in Plymouth.

'Probable' jail terms

Mr Michael Fitton, QC, prosecuting, said the bogus claims of £250,000 were for 37 cases of patients allegedly treated between 1998 and 2002.

He said the health authorities had not carried out thorough checks other than on patients' details and that they were registered with their GPs.

"They did not challenge it very much and it therefore turned out to be quite a simple fraud to conduct," he told the jury.

"It was very easy money from just filling in forms and making up information using personal details and the money came in."

He said claims were made to 12 health authorities or trusts across Britain and the case was referred to the police by health officials in Merseyside.

Fort Hyperbaric claimed £6,500 for treating each of the divers, but the jury heard a number of those supposedly treated had never dived or even been to Plymouth.

Judge Ian Leeming, QC, said both men face probable jail terms.

Two other men who were linked to the diving company were cleared by the jury.