Thursday 11 October 2012

Outsourcing under the Tories

Spotted by Bob E in The Guardian:

Atos, the company contracted by the Department for Work and Pensions to carry out medical assessments of people claiming benefits, has subcontracted the NHS to carry out its consultations in Scotland in an unusual example of an outsourced contract being subcontracted back to a public organisation.

The decision has prompted questions from MPs over whether it represents value for public money for the state to contract work to a private company, if the company then in turn outsources the work back to the state sector...


Remember of course that the rationale/excuse for asking ATOS to do these assessments was that "We can't trust GPs and people working in the NHS, 'cos they will classify someone as "disabled" at the drop of a pin, so in order to make sure the new PIP "works" we have to establish ahem a "fair and objective test" and get the private sector to administer it" suddenly goes all the way around to "We are paying that private sector provider so much it is now sub-contracting the work back to the NHS" where, if we are to believe what we are told, those tests will be carried out by the very people it was thought shouldn't be let anywhere near them".

But I suppose the NHS staff doing the assessments will have to be told whether they are doing the assessment:
- actual purposes of treatment or for medical reasons,
- under the old softer criteria, or
- under the shiny new PIP criteria for ATOS, in which case the general rule is that everybody is fit and healthy and capable of working.

5 comments:

Bayard said...

Ah, but the NHS can now outsource this new contract to another private organisation, whilst taking a cut for "administration", and this new organisation will find lots of self-employed people to subcontract the work to and also take a cut for "administration". Just like India: nobody does anything they are paid to do if they can find someone to do it for them for less and can take a commission.

Robin Smith said...

Its another pyramid scheme. Each stage parasitical on the one below. Thanks will add it to the list.

http://gco2e.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/any-scheme-in-any-part-of-enterprise-or.html

Mark Wadsworth said...

B, RS, yes, correct, that is the general plan.

Lola said...

Yet another unarguable reason to get the State out of as much of 'society' as possible. It is all truly bonkers. Neither Kafka nor Charles Dodgson could have imagined anything madder.

Kj said...

That's pretty damn blatant. The rent-seekers don't really care anymore do they? I propose the next good candidate to be insourced via outsourcing to a "private" company to be HMRC.