Health and Social Care Moray paid a bill of almost £10,000 to a company for the same service twice.
The issue was discovered during an internal audit of procurement and creditor payments.
Around £21 million was paid to suppliers from October 2021 to March 2022 for goods and services. A random selection totalling £1.05 million was examined to check for potential duplication.
A total of 15 matches were found with the same amount paid to a supplier, with one for £9,797 being paid twice.
Attempts are being made to retrieve the over payment. It has not been reported who the provider was.
£10k bill paid twice
Auditors also found care provides had received money before services were delivered, which is against policy.
Some pre-payments were made up to six months ahead of a service being provided.
Chief internal auditor Dafydd Lewis spoke to a meeting of Moray Integration Joint Board audit performance and risk committee this week.
He said all recommendations made into the completed audits had been accepted.
A review is being carried out to make sure payments are not being made ahead of service delivery.
Invoices will be more rigorously checked and recorded, with payments being made to agreed care providers and not sub contractors.
Committee chairman Sandy Riddell said: “The areas that have been focused on are important, and I’m reassured recommendations have been accepted.”
Health and Social Care Moray is the integrated organisation formed by staff from Moray Council and NHS Grampian who work in the health and social care services.
In June, it emerged that Moray Council was finding it difficult to return £80,000 belonging to 10 dead clients.
Some of the money had been held in the local authority’s bank account for four years.
The cash was part of the Corporate Appointeeship scheme.
It allows councils to pair up officers with people getting benefits who cannot manage their own finances.
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