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ONE of the top-rated hospitals in the country has been hit by a scandal after a manager was revealed to have accepted tens of thousands of pounds in backhanders from a private company boss in exchange for the award of National Health Service contracts.

The NHS Counter Fraud Authority (CFA) said University College London Hospitals’ patient transport services manager accepted £73,000 in bribes from a director at SSC Secure Transport Ltd.

The bungs were paid between July 2021 and April 2022 in return for contracts worth around £233,000.

Tudor Dumitru, the director at SSC, pleaded guilty to a single charge of bribery at Wood Green Crown Court and will be sentenced next month.

This week it emerged the hospital manager had been found dead on the day after he was himself due to appear in court on the same charges. He had not appeared at court.

The Extra has agreed not to name the manager out of respect to his family that has only recently learned of the tragedy.

UCLH said this week that the bribes related to a clause in its contract with its primary patient transport provider G4S that allowed the hospital managers to contract a “small number of other suppliers” when additional support was required.

A spokesperson said UCLH had cooperated fully with the police and CFA investigation that had resulted in “devastating consequences” for a member of their staff.

An advert for a transport manager position at UCLH, which went up on May 13 – three days before the initial hearing at Wood Green – said the annual salary was £54,000 to £60,000 and that UCLH was “a top trust to work at in England” with the highest score of all hospitals in terms of staff who would recommend it as a place to work.

Police confirmed the manager had not attended court and had been found dead the following day.

The Extra has contacted SSC, based in Enfield, for comment but it has not responded.

Its website does not list contracts, but it says that its work is with NHS, private hospital groups, police, council, the justice system and social services.

The company was first set up in 2013 with the name Star Safe Custody Ltd, until changing to SSC in 2020.

Mr Dumitru – one of three directors of the company – had his role terminated on Monday.

According to the CFA, he made payments to UCLH of £73,000 between July 2021 and April 2022.

According to its website, the company is relatively small – reporting little over £90,000 profit in 2023 and £26,262 the year before. It specialises in transport for children, young people and adults with “challenging behaviours and mental health conditions”.

UCLH’s main provider of patient transport has been G4S since its last contract renewal in 2021.

Patients have routinely contacted the Extra with complaints about patient transport to and from hospitals since the service was privatised.

In 2017, Extra reported on a protest of a final group of 11 “in-house” UCLH patient transport drivers against a decision to outsource their jobs to a private company.

Some had been employed by the NHS – which offers greater benefits and protections than private firms – for more than 20 years.

There had been mounting concerns at the hospital about the service and the chief executive at the time, Marcel Levi, had put the G4S contract under review.

Despite this the in-house team was absorbed into the main contract.

Following the death of the NHS hospital manager, a coroner’s inquest will be held.

Typically, the criminal justice system does not pursue charges against someone who has died.

A UCLH spokesperson said: “This case has had devastating consequences for our member of staff and their family. Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time. We cooperated fully with police and counter-fraud teams throughout the investigation. At the same time we also followed due process and protected the confidentiality of our member of staff as we were bound to do.”

Ben Harrison, NHS CFA head of operations, said: “The offering or accepting of bribes to influence the awarding of NHS contracts is a criminal offence that undermines fair competition. The NHS Counter Fraud Authority does not tolerate any form of fraudulent or corrupt practices.

“We encourage anyone with suspicions of fraud against the NHS to report it through our confidential reporting channels.”

The Bribery Act 2010 defines bribery as “giving someone a financial or other advantage to encourage them to perform their duties improperly or reward them for having done so”.

The hospital says it limits exposure to bribery by having a gifts and hospitality register and policies to help staff raise concerns.