NHS suspends Atos Origin contract after scan errors

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A five-year contract between IT consultants Atos Origin - reportedly worth hundreds of millions of pounds - and the National Health Service (NHS) in the North West has been suspended following problems with ultrasounds and MRI scans.

Up to 900 patients were recalled for ultrasound scans last week in eight primary care trusts - in Bolton, Manchester, Salford, Stockport, Oldham, Ashton Leigh and Wigan, Knowsley, and Liverpool - after an audit revealed administrative and technical errors with scans which were outsourced to Atos Origin.

"We have ordered a full independent review of MRI scans and ultrasounds carried out by the North West diagnostic service," a Department of Health (DoH) spokesman said in a statement. "Patient safety is of paramount importance in the NHS. We expect the same high standards from all providers - whether in the independent or public sector."

All scheduled MRI scans and ultrasounds in the affected areas have been stopped, with patients being offered alternative choices for their examinations.

"The Department, working with the NHS, will only allow services to proceed when we are certain that patient safety will not be compromised," the DoH spokesman said. "If the review highlights any patients who require follow-up checks, they will be contacted directly."

NHS North West said in a statement last week that there is no evidence that patient safety or clinical care has been seriously compromised.

Mike Farrar, chief executive of NHS North West, said that the problems with Atos Origin are mainly administrative and that starting the scanning service in a limited way has helped flush out 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."

Atos Origin said it had accepted the suspension and was hoping to start taking referrals again with in months. "Atos Origin, in consultation with the Department of Health and the NHS, has taken the decision to stop accepting referrals for all diagnostic examinations while a full process review takes place," a spokesperson for the company said in a statement. "The three parties continue to work together in preparation for service delivery scheduled to commence in the coming months."

The Atos Origin contract was signed last year to help NHS North West get around a bottleneck in such diagnostics tests by providing an additional 230,000 scans a year.

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