Screening returns in-house
The NHS is bringing cervical screening services back in-house as a result of poor performance by the Capita outsourcing firm.
NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens told the Commons Public Accounts Committee that the NHS “had not been satisfied with the way in which [the service] has been performing”. As a result the service will be back in-house as of July.
In recent years, cervical cancer screening has been administered as part of Capita primary care services, and the organisation came in for severe criticism when more than 40,000 women were not sent the appropriate smear test information.
A further 4,508 women were not sent letters informing them of the result of their cervical screening.
Sara Gorton, head of health at the UNISON health service union, said: “We’re pleased to see the service returning to the NHS, but it should not have been privatised in the first place.”
Dr Krishna Kasaraneni of the BMA doctors’ union said the union had long been raising concerns about Capita’s “frankly shambolic” running of GP support services.
He added: “Furthermore, we know there are still fundamental ongoing issues with Capita’s delivery of other backroom functions — including the transfer of patient records, pensions administration and payments to practices — and we demand that NHS England ultimately takes responsibility for all of these shortcomings, and brings these back in-house as well.”
https://www.bma.org.uk/news/2019/march/loss-of-cervical-screening-contract-only-right