THE NHS could be wasting nearly £5 million a year in Dorset paying for so-called 'ghost patients' figures have revealed.

The most recent estimate for the population of Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group, which is in charge of commissioning healthcare services in the area, is 771,884. But last month there were 801,814 patients registered with GP surgeries in the county.

Because Dorset GPs receive an average amount per patient from the NHSof £162.75 this means that up to 29,930 of these could be ghost patients, or 3.7 per cent of all those registered.

The Office for National Statistics last updated its population estimates in mid 2016, so it is possible that population growth may account for some ghost patients. But analysis of ONS figures shows that, between 2011 and 2016, the population grew by 0.7 per cent on average each year, so it is unlikely this accounts for all extra patients.

Dorset CCG was allocated £132.31 million from the NHS based on the number of registered patients in the 2016-2017 financial year.

The funding formula is revised annually but based on these figures, the CCG would receive around £130.5 million for patients on the register in the coming financial year. But if the population figure was used instead of the patient register, it would be £125.62 million.

The health service stressed it had found no evidence that doctors are deliberately inflating patient numbers, and it is likely the figures are down to poor record keeping.

However, despite an Audit Commission drive to remove 95,000 patients from surgeries' lists the problem appears to be growing with up to 17,052 ghost patients in Dorset three years ago, compared to 29,930 in the latest figures.

The NHS has been concerned about ghost patients for some time, and in 2016, it hired private company Capita to clear non-existent patients from GPs' registers. The firm has written to patients who have not contacted their registered practice within five years, as this could be an indicator that the patient has moved away.

NHS England said it factored ghost patients into its budget allocations.

A spokesman said: “GP practices work hard to keep their registered patient lists as accurate as possible and NHS England is working with Capita and GP surgeries to transform this process, make it digital and any savings identified will be ploughed back into the NHS.”