Reblogged from Watching A4e:
There was a lot of fuss about the fact that Atos is getting out of its
£500m WCA contract early, citing all the abuse it has been getting.
Will they incur a financial penalty for this? Well, if they do they
can recoup the loss from their latest contract - "to extract patient
records from GP surgeries as part of the controversial NHS data sharing
scheme", in the words of the Telegraph
yesterday. Some boggling went on at that revelation. Dr Sarah
Wollaston (a Tory MP but sensible) asked whether the DWP would be
allowed access to the database. The answer appears to be no, but don't
bank on it. A big question in my mind is how they can maintain
confidentiality when the project involves, I assume, the work of an army
of people looking at both paper and digital records.
So Atos can't
lose. They still have the PIP contract, carving up the country with
Capita. That isn't going too well. The last we heard was that most of
the potential subcontractors listed on its bid pulled out, and Atos
didn't have the scope to provide enough facilities. But with another
contract in the bag, shareholders need not worry. That's the beauty of
outsourcing. Once your company is big enough there is no competition,
and bodging one contract after another doesn't matter.
