A former NHS director has joined KPMG's forensic services team.

Jim Gee, the health department's director of Counter Fraud Services, takes up a post at KPMG after eight years in government where he created the NHS Counter Fraud Service from scratch, putting in place more than 500 Counter Fraud Specialists.

Gee is credited for his approach, which led to a 55% reduction in losses due to patient fraud, a 96% successful prosecution rate, more than £800m in financial benefits for the NHS and a return on budgetary investment in counter fraud work of 12:1.

He is set to further develop this role, helping KPMG clients improve their counter fraud measures and reduce losses by transferring elements of the public service model he created, where appropriate, into their own practices and methods.

Gee said: 'After some great years at the NHS, I am really looking forward to working with private companies to help them in the battle against fraud. It is often assumed that best practice arises in the private sector and then needs to be transferred to the public sector.

'However, I believe that there are many great things happening in the public sector that private companies can learn from. Some of the measures implemented in the NHS could very usefully be applied in the outside commercial world too.'

KPMG Forensic is a rapidly expanding part of the firm, as fraud prevention and detection become increasingly high priorities for companies of all kinds and sizes. Revenue grew by 33% in the financial year to 30 September 2006, while headcount expanded by 25%.

Further reading:

Jim Gee: Keeping fraudsters at bay at the NHS

Fraud busting the NHS way