A £257m contract for diagnostic services in North-west and South-west England awarded to Atos Origin last December has been suspended after the Department of Health (DH) ordered an independent review following concerns about quality and administrative procedures.
Atos Origin had been working with eight PCTs in the North-west since December but some ultrasound and MRI scan patients had to be recalled to repeat tests performed under the new services.
Healthcare IT specialists, Cerner, recently announced a deal to provide solutions supporting the diagnostics service which is key to achieving the government’s target of an 18 week wait between GP referral and hospital treatment.
The US-based firm has been awarded two contracts for an integrated solution to support diagnostic imaging services based on Cerner’s PAS (patient administration system) and RIS/PACS (radiology information system/picture archiving and communications system).
An NHS North-west spokesperson told E-Health Insider: “The NHS ultrasound and MR scanning service provided by the independent health company Atos has stopped accepting referrals after an audit revealed that operational issues had led to incomplete patient information being included and delays in reporting diagnoses.
“There were concerns about the ultrasound service in February when an audit of the service found that some patient information was not being correctly recorded. An independent review of all cases led to seven additional patients needing to be rescanned and that review is ongoing.”
Patients who had appointments to be scanned by Atos are now being contacted to be offered an alternative, either by the NHS or another independent sector provider.
An NHS North-west spokesperson said of the contracts: “The Department of Health had negotiated a contract with Atos to provide ultrasound and MR scans and a range of other diagnostic services in areas of the north west and the south west which had been due to start in April. The aim is to give GPs much greater access to these services so that they become used much more routinely rather than just for serious conditions.
“Eight primary care trusts – Bolton, Manchester, Salford, Stockport, Oldham, Ashton Leigh and Wigan, Knowsley, and Liverpool – wanted to access these services sooner and so a separate contract was negotiated to provide ultrasound and MR scans from December 2006 until the end of March when the full contract would have become operational. As a result of this, the contract with Atos that had meant to start in April is now under review while the issue is investigated.”
A Cerner spokesperson told EHI: “Cerner Corporation are prepared to go live with the diagnostic services and we fully support Atos Origin with preparation for service delivery in the coming months.”
In a statement Atos Origin added: “Atos Origin, in consultation with the Department of Health and the NHS, has taken the decision to stop accepting referrals for all diagnostic examination while a full process review takes place. The three parties continue to work together in preparation for service delivery scheduled to commence in the coming months.”
A total of 60 fixed sites and 17 mobile test centres are due to receive systems from Cerner and Atos Origin.
Mike Farrar, chief executive of NHS North West, said: “The problems we have had with Atos are primarily to do with their administrative procedures although we are also reviewing the clinical quality of the services.
“Starting the service early in a limited way has helped flush out these operational issues. The public should be reassured that we do monitor service quality, whether provided by the NHS or the independent sector, and that we are prepared to act if they fall short of our expectations.”
NHS South West issued a statement saying: "Unlike, NHS North West, our contract with Atos Origin has not yet commenced. We had initially hoped to begin the contract with Atos Origin in April 2007, but we are now working closely with the company to provide the service over the forthcoming months.
"A decision was made to carry on using existing contractors until Atos Origin was in a position to provide diagnostic services for the whole of the South West. Services will continue as normal and patients will not be affected."
A DH spokesperson confirmed an investigation was ongoing and said referrals will only resume when the investigation is complete and they are sure that patient safety would not be affected.
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