Case reveals lax way hospital handled money

MAJOR flaws in the banking system at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital have been exposed. But the system has been changed and different procedures adopted.

The faults came to light during a Royal Court case against former employee Sarah Young.

She denies 11 counts of theft from the Board of Health totalling £33,776.

She was dining room supervisor in the hospital's canteen and part of her duties was collecting money from the till and banking it with the hospital cashier's office after meal sittings.

When she was not there other staff would be involved in cashing up, normally three times daily. But nobody ever monitored the person cashing up, although they do now.

Several catering department staff had access to the till and keys to a money box and a safe and knew when money was building up, the court heard.

The procedure was that banking should be done every day, but this was not always the case.

Concerns had been raised by staff about banking 'irregularities' at the hospital and discrepancies had been alerted to bosses. A cashier reported delays about money being paid in from the canteen.

Crown Advocate Graeme McKerrell told the court there was a serious flaw within the system at the time. 'I make no bones about that,' he said. 'It was a flaw that the prosecution say Young was able to use to her advantage.'

More than one flaw was identified, including inadequate checks on till receipts.

A senior audit officer found that more than £33,000 was missing over the period covered by Mrs Young's indictment.

The court was told the previous internal audit of the canteen had been carried out more than three years earlier.

The flaws allowed the alleged offences to go on for so long, the prosecution said.

Mrs Young's advocate, Christopher Green, said that the banking was not done as regularly as it should have been by the protocol.

Daniel Rylatt, the board's catering services manager, said a money handling policy had been introduced after the losses had come to light.

A safe was placed in the catering department to stop money going through the hospital three times a day, the court heard.

Mrs Young had been warned by bosses when there was a delay in banking money, but she blamed work pressures and nobody being at the cashier's desk on occasions for not doing so and said she put the money in the safe.

On the second of the trial yesterday, Richard Evans, the board's general services manager, told the court he believed his department was run effectively at the time but he had no idea 'vast' amounts of money were going missing.

He was also not aware that sometimes money was kept in the canteen till overnight.

'Clearly the whole system was inadequate wasn't it?' said Advocate Green. 'It would appear so,' said Mr Evans.

He was aware that there were no accounts records held for the canteen before 2001 and when cross-examined he accepted that the whole situation reflected badly on the department.

The canteen till had been changed previously to make it Year 2000 compliant as some of the keys were ageing and did not work.

The court heard that after 2002 the computerised system at the board was changed. It was one of the first States departments to adopt a new financial management system.

It was told also that when the money went missing, not all staff who could have had access to the till and takings in the safe were investigated thoroughly by the internal audit department.

Mr Evans accepted it was possible another staff member could have slipped money into a handbag and stolen cash from the board.

But he denied his department leapt to the conclusion that Mrs Young was the guilty party when the missing money was discovered.

PEH administration officer Marilyn Atkinson told the court: 'Things have changed - it's so different,' when asked how people would get access to the safe.

The case continues.