HINDHEAD dentist Mark Walewski, who was handed a three-year jail sentence in February for defrauding the NHS out of more than £222,000, is now banned from practising indefinitely.

Walewski, 68, who lives in Churt and ran the New Dental Surgery in Hindhead, committed the fraud between 2006 and 2012 by charging private patients at his practice for treatment and then billing the NHS for the same work.

More than 6,000 fraudulent claims were made and the total loss to the NHS was £222,703.34.

An anonymous tip-off to NHS Protect, the body founded to tackle crime across the health service, triggered an in-depth investigation that led to Walewski being arrested by Surrey Police, in September 2012, and his home and surgery being raided.

Walewski also submitted claims for prescriptions that had never been issued to patients. A large number of the frauds related to children, including a claim for the dental examination of a 17-day-old baby.

Last Thursday, the General Dental Council found Walewski’s fitness to practice was impaired due to his criminal conviction and his name has been erased from the dental register.

GDC committee chairman Ilana Tessler said: “The committee considered the convictions in this case so serious they attracted a sentence of imprisonment and that it would be wholly inappropriate not to make a finding of current impairment.

“The committee concluded that the convictions in this case were so grave, and involved dishonest behaviour directly relating to his profession over a protracted period of time.

“Mr Walewski’s fitness to practise is currently impaired by reason of conviction. Mr Walewski’s behaviour is fundamentally incompatible with him being a dental professional.

“The committee concluded that the only proportionate sanction is that of erasure.”