Indian call centres should deal with British health data: Official
By IANSTuesday, January 4, 2011
LONDON - Health information about Britons should be handed over to Indian call centres to save money, as offices in Delhi and Pune deal with such work at a “fraction” of the British cost, a top official has said.
John Neilson, head of the government-backed National Health Service (NHS) Shared Business Services, said the move would help prevent service cuts and contribute to saving 20 billion pounds through efficiency by 2014.
Neilson said the health service spent more than one billion of taxpayers’ money every year by paying wildly varying prices for equipment ranging from stationery to surgical instruments, the Daily Express reported Tuesday.
The organisation, a joint public-private venture, outsources administrative functions such as finance, accounting and payroll.
It has nearly 700 workers in India, mostly employed on data entry and financial administration.
Neilson said the work was high quality and only “local British sensitivity” prevented more being dealt with in India.
But unions and patient groups said the change would mean job losses and worse service for patients.
Nigel Edwards, acting chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “It might save money for the NHS but it’s not clear it would save money for the taxpayer, because British workers who were replaced would then be unemployed.”
“And there are concerns about confidentiality,” he said.
