A WOMAN has been ordered to pay compensation to the NHS after conning GP surgeries out of more than 5,000 pills.

Health bosses say Ruth King, 43, of Shaftesbury Avenue, effectively stole from the mouths of the sick after visiting a number of Swindon surgeries with false identities and ailments.

Swindon magistrates heard how King hatched the scam in January 2004.

She had been prescribed a mixture of powerful antidepressants, sleeping pills and painkillers before she was rumbled six months later.

A probe by an NHS fraud discovered King had sometimes visited up to four surgeries in a week and acquired a month's supply of each drug for a two-day period.

The alarm was only raised when a doctor tipped off Swindon Primary Care Trust responsible for the town's surgeries after noticing that she was attempting to register at a number of GP practices with different names, yet always giving the same date of birth and quoting the same regular GP.

The probe found she visited the following surgeries: Home Ground Surgery, Blunsdon Surgery, Westrop Surgery, Park Lane Surgery as well as Sparcells Surgery.

At an earlier hearing she pleaded guilty to five counts of theft and fraud.

Previously, Susan Atherton, an NHS counter-fraud specialist, said: "Frauds such as that perpetrated by King rob genuine patients of the healthcare they are entitled to.

"Not just the valuable resources that have been lost but the time GPs, pharmacists and the many other professionals waste in their dealings with them.

"This conviction demonstrates that fraud against the NHS is not a victimless crime and shows we will do whatever is in our power to protect NHS resources."

Dr Kandy Kandiah, of Sparcells Surgery said: "This was very wrong and reflects the problem of drugs in society today.

"Doctors are careful about prescribing drugs but it's difficult for them."

Since 1999 the NHS fraud squad has saved £478 million for the NHS and in that time patient fraud has nearly halved, from £171 million to £87 million.

King was given a two-year community rehabilitation order and must pay the NHS £355.46 in compensation.

She was also ordered to pay £150 costs to Swindon PCT.