Legal News

Patients may have been put at risk as a result of NHS services in England being outsourced to Capita according to the National Audit Office (NAO) the public spending watchdog.

The report reveals that nearly 90 women were wrongly told that they were no longer part of the cervical screening programme after Capita began to run back-office services in 2015, potentially putting them at great risk.

Although the report found that no harm to any of the women had been found, it also described the services to be ‘way below’ an acceptable standard. In return, NHS England acknowledged that there had been ‘difficulties’ but pointed out that the £330m deal with Capita had saved them £60m.

The seven year deal, struck in 2015, determined that Capita would run back-office functions for GPs, dentists and pharmacists in order to reduce costs and attempt to modernise services. Capita’s duties involved; sending test results, moving patients’ medical records, processing registrations and pays GP practices.

According to NAO’s report, the significant issues regarding patient safety resulted from problems updating the so-called ‘performers list’, a list of GPs, dentists and opticians practicing within the NHS. Crucially, the list included details on whether or not they were suitably qualified and had passed all the relevant checks.

“The failure to update performers’ lists may have compromised patient safety in cases where practitioners should have been removed.” Explained the authors of the report.

Additionally, delays in processing new applications for the performers list in 2016 amounted to around 1000 GPs, dentists and opticians being unable to work.

An NHS spokesperson defended the deal, pointing out that the £60m saved had been reinvested into front-line care, funding the equivalent of an extra 30,000.

However, Sir Amyas Morse, head of the NAO voiced his disapproval, pointing out that value for money was “…more than just about cost reduction.”

“It is deeply unsatisfactory that, two and a half years into the contract, NHS England and Capita have not yet reached the level of partnership working required to make a contract like this work effectively.”

The NAO added that NHS England would do well to consider taking the services back in-house.

With Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt previously reporting that up to 270 women in England may have died because they did not receive invitations to a final routine breast cancer screening due to IT problems, the NHS is facing further strains in what is already a difficult period for the health service due to staff shortages and insufficient funding.

As the Director of Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury at Duncan Lewis, Rebecca Thomas is responsible for risk assessing all of the clinical negligence and personal injury claims handled by the firm. Rebecca is highly experienced in dealing with severe and complex clinical negligence and personal injury cases including, but not limited to; claims involving birth injuries, brain injuries, surgical injuries and orthopaedic injuries resulting from delay, misdiagnosis or negligent spinal or gastrointestinal surgery.

Contact Rebecca on 020 3114 1309 or email her at rebeccat@duncanlewis.com.

Duncan Lewis Clinical Negligence Solicitors

The Duncan Lewis Clinical Negligence team has significant experience acting in a vast array of claims. Varying from accident and emergency failures to GP negligence claims, to misdiagnosed fractures to wrongful death matters claims. We also act for children and adults who have suffered profound and permanent brain, spinal or neurological injuries and associated disabilities as a consequence of failings in medical care in both NHS and private hospitals.

If you have any queries relating to Clinical Negligence or think that you may have a claim, please do not hesitate to contact our team of expert solicitors on 0333 772 0409.