Previous head of anti-fraud section says that duplicity is costing the NHS about £5bn a year, with a further £2bn lost to blunders.

The measure lost to misrepresentation alone could pay for about 250,000 new medical attendants, a report recommends.

The NHS must "get on with handling the issue", said Jim Gee, co-creator of the Portsmouth University study and ex-executive of NHS Counter Fraud Services.

The Department of Health said it "didn't distinguish" the figures.

The measure evaluated by Mr Gee, who headed the NHS against misrepresentation segment for eight years, is 20 times more than what is recorded in the legislature's yearly duplicity marker report.

"We have to not be humiliated, or willfully ignorant, about the likelihood of cheating occurring in the NHS," said Mr Gee.

"We have to get on with handling the issue, minimizing its cost, expanding assets accessible for fitting patient forethought."

The report, by the University of Portsmouth and bookkeeping firm BDO, will be distributed on Tuesday.

It found that the greatest regions of misrepresentation are in payroll and acquisition plans.

Case in point is that an advisor doing private deal with NHS time or acquisition astute; an optician charging for glasses, which the patient never gained or needed.