Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England have not disclosed hundreds of payments from drug companies, reveals an investigation.
Publicly declared payments include sports match and pop concert tickets.
However, only two-thirds of the 4,600 payments – and a quarter of the value – that CCGs accepted from private companies and charities in 2015-17 were declared.
The findings show that just nine of 207 CCGs account for half the number of payments received.
The work was carried out by the BMJ in collaboration with researchers at the University of Bath and Lund University in Sweden.
The total monetary value of payments identified in CCGs’ publicly available registers over the period was £1,283,767.
However, £5,027,818 has been identified in the payments listed in responses to the FOI.
A spokesperson for NHS Clinical Commissioners, an independent membership organisation for CCGs, said it “strongly challenges” any implication of wrongdoing.
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