Worthing dentist guilty of defrauding NHS out of £92k

A West Sussex dentist has been convicted of defrauding the NHS after making more than 1,000 false claims over the space of five years about payments totalling more than £92,000.

Fariba Shameli, who previously owned and operated Findon Dental Care in Worthing, claimed for dental work that was never carried out between March 2013 and June 2018, according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

A CPS spokesperson said that Shameli had been trying to avoid “clawback” procedures, where the NHS recovers overpayments if dentists do not hit their contractual targets.

A warrant has been issued for her arrest after the trial at Hove Crown Court on Monday, which she did not attend.

Ben Reid, specialist prosecutor for the CPS, said: “For every pound of this fraud, a pound was taken from our NHS which could have gone towards patient care.

“As an NHS dentist, Shameli was entrusted to safeguard the financial interests of this taxpayer funded service and behave in an honest way.

“Sadly, her behaviour fell far short of this standard and prosecutors were able to paint a compelling picture of evidence showing that this was a deliberate and calculated fraud, carried out for personal gain.”

Shameli was also found to have claimed from the NHS for work that she had carried out on a private basis.

She was also found to have been found to have altered treatment dates on some records to increase claims for a particular financial year.

Shameli was also convicted of fraud by abuse of position at an earlier trial in October 2025.

She is due to be sentenced on 16 July.

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