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Posted: 28-11-2007 08:12 Post subject:

OMG!

The Matt cartoon in the Telegraph is accompanied by Serco advertising!

http://tinyurl.com/34l27w

Posted: 29-09-2011 07:50 Post subject:

Serco involved in tragic failure in the NHS system:

Man asked to examine son in hospital car park

The father of a six-year-old boy who died as a result of a burst appendix was asked to examine him in a Cornish hospital car park, an inquest was told.
Ethan Kerrigan's father Lee had taken him to Penrice Hospital's out-of-hours clinic in June last year after his son had been vomiting for several days.
Mr Kerrigan was then told to phone the out-of-hours medical service and Ethan was not treated. He died the next day.
The coroner recorded a verdict of death by natural causes at the Truro hearing.

The inquest heard that Ethan had been unwell with stomach pains and vomiting for a few days before he died.
In the early hours of 15 June, his father took him to Penrice Hospital in St Austell.
When he arrived he was told to phone out-of-hours service Serco, which he did from the hospital's car park, the inquest heard.
On the phone, a triage nurse asked him to examine Ethan's abdomen.
Mr Kerrigan and Ethan's mother, Theresa Commons, both told the inquest that the nurse had asked them to give him ibuprofen, a hot water bottle and make an appointment to see a GP the next day, saying there was nothing to worry about.

The next day, Ethan collapsed in the doctors' surgery in Roche and died later at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, near Truro, from acute gangrenous appendicitis.

Jackie Whitmarsh, from Serco, told the inquest that an investigation had been carried out.
She said the organisation had found that the triage nurse had failed to ask enough questions.
She told the coroner the nurse had been put under six months' close supervision and the organisation had brought in new guidance on dealing with abdominal pain in children.

Assistant Cornwall coroner Barrie van den Berg recorded a verdict of death by natural causes.

Ethan's parents thanked doctors at the GP surgery and at the Royal Cornwall Hospital for trying to save their son's life.
Mr Kerrigan, from Roche, said Ethan was a "lovely, caring little boy".
"I'm so proud he was my boy."

In a statement, Serco said that the death was "a terrible tragedy".
It said: "Serco is committed to providing the highest quality of service to the NHS and the people of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and like any responsible healthcare provider, we seek continuously to learn lessons and to improve how we work.
"Since then we have worked with the local NHS to develop enhanced protocols for handling illness in young children, and these have now been in place for some time".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-15094116

Posted: 08-07-2012 11:54 Post subject:

Apparently Serco Security have been a bit lax in their checks compromising security for the Olympics. Dirty bombs may have got through because of the lack of staff experience needed to use the monitoring equipment.
(surprise surprise).

It's getting really hard to keep up a reputation of being cynical when everything this country attempts is genuinely slipshod and badly-executed.

Posted: 08-07-2012 15:04 Post subject:

Well, I'll be staying away from London during the Olympics.

Posted: 11-07-2012 22:40 Post subject:

Okay, any group of people can mess up a situation? But what are the foundations of Serco, who are the founding fathers?
Here's one as a first:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sarnoff
If they're masters of the Universe let's know their names & their influence & whether their family is still involved?

Posted: 11-07-2012 22:50 Post subject:

Posted: 11-07-2012 23:14 Post subject:

http://tools.morningstar.co.uk/uk/stockreport/default.aspx?tab=6&SecurityToken=0P00007OV2%5D3%5D0%5DE0WWE$$ALL&Id=0P00007OV2&ClientFund=0&CurrencyId=GBP
So these are the funds that currently own Serco?

Posted: 12-07-2012 22:47 Post subject:

OMG Rynner's lost his ability to google!

Posted: 12-07-2012 23:16 Post subject:

'Serco Inc. is the Americas division of Serco Group, plc, one of the world’s leading service companies. Serco Inc. is dedicated to advise, design, integrate and deliver innovative service solutions to all branches of the U.S. military, federal civilian agencies and the intelligence community. Serco, plc, took in $6.5 Billion ($6,490,000,000) in revenue for 2009 and $7 Billion ($7,074,000,000) in revenue for 2010. It has over 70,000 employees and operates in numerous countries. 11,000 of these dedicated professionals are across North America alone. They have offices in more than 100 locations across North America.

Serco is headquartered in Reston, VA (Washington, DC metro area) with locations in 45 states, four Canadian provinces and 14 countries around the world.Serco Group, plc, has its main offices in England but regional offices all over Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North America. The North American offices include Serco Inc.'s North American Headquarters which is located in Reston, Virginia. They also have a major office in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

As well as thanking God for his success, Serco's CEO Chris Hyman is a Pentecostal Christian who has released a gospel album in America and fasts every Tuesday. Coincidentally he was in the World Trade Centre on 9/11 on the 47th floor addressing shareholders.'
Guess people can make their own judgement on the christian fundamentalism? If that makes him a malleable patriot who's blind to the bigger picture. Then that's his job?

Posted: 12-07-2012 23:20 Post subject:

Posted: 13-07-2012 00:03 Post subject:

So you're reading about conspiracies but can't do a crossword? I'm sorry but I'm not interested in who is trending on the FT forum. If you've got something to say on the subject, cool. If not then fuck off!
I put forward a legit area of research?

Posted: 13-07-2012 07:46 Post subject:

No, you can't, as you're now banned for flaming. You were warned.

Posted: 23-09-2012 08:13 Post subject:

Serco gave NHS false data about its GP service 252 times
11:00am Friday 21st September 2012
By Emma Ferguson

An independent review into out-of-hours doctor service run by Serco has uncovered it gave NHS false data about its GP service 252 times.
Whistleblowers had alleged Serco was repeatedly so understaffed as to be unsafe and claimed that managers manipulated its results.
The chair of the parliamentary public accounts committee, the Labour MP Margaret Hodge, has asked the National Audit Office to investigate the case.

The chief executive of NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, to which Serco is contracted, said he was “disappointed” by the findings that have been published in a report by the primary care trust.

Included in this are the findings of an independent review carried out by Dr David Colin-Thomè, who describes Serco’s service as safe and effective while at the same time facing challenges with clinical staffing and service levels in the recent past, adding: "an important caveat: until significant problems are all rectified I cannot say with certainty that the service will remain safe".

Dr Colin-Thomè has made a number of recommendations that will be considered by the PCT board at its public meeting next Tuesday (September 25).

The board will also receive an update on the further work carried out by Serco looking at its data recording processes.
This has shown that computer records were changed and there was “insufficient justification” for those changes.
The PCT has been told they were unauthorised and involved 0.2 per cent of records between January and June this year.

However, this only covered the first six months of this year when the company had already been told it was under scrutiny. The health regulator the Care Quality Commission has reported that staff said that the data manipulation went back four years or more.

Serco has since apologised and will work with the PCT to strengthen its data handling procedures and controls, to ensure consistent reporting in future.

Andrew George MP for West Cornwall said he is “not reassured” by the report.
Mr George (who is also a member of the Health Select Committee), raised concerns before the PCT commissioned Serco to continue the Out of Hours GP service for another five years in October 2011. He then took matters to the Care Quality Commission early this year. His justification for reporting the matter was upheld by the CQC’s damming Report in July.

Mr George said: “The report confirms that managers deliberately altered data. The data manipulation would have helped Serco present figures which would have inflated its response time targets.
“Data was altered on 252 occasions between January and June this year – a period when Serco knew that it was already under heavy scrutiny and was no doubt trying to clean up its act. It was also the period when I had referred the matter to the Care Quality Commission and when the CQC commenced and completed its investigation. It was the period before this in 2011when I fear such data manipulation would have been worse.

“On top of this, the scrutiny of Serco’s data handling records was undertaken by Serco. Not independently.
“The PCT criticised me heavily me for raising concerns and blowing the whistle on the service that many of us knew was not as good as the many plaudits heaped on it by itself and the PCT.

“This also raises wider concerns about the wisdom of opening up even more of the NHS to private companies who, it seems, may be prepared to go to any lengths to win and retain NHS contracts.
“Government Ministers should reflect carefully before rushing on with its potentially reckless gamble of turning public health services into a private market.”

The PCT will now carry out independent validation of Serco’s report, which will be repeated in six months.

Steve Moore, chief executive of NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, said: “I was disappointed to learn that some of the data we received to measure performance was inaccurate although the number of inaccurate records was small.
“I am clear that Serco did not gain from these actions and they have issued a full apology to us.
“I am pleased to say that patient satisfaction with the service remains high and Serco is working constructively with us to address the issues raised by our review. We are confident that their aim is the same as ours, to provide a consistently high quality service to the people of Cornwall.”

Serco said it welcomed the PCT board report, which also includes results of patient and GP surveys.
Paul Forden, managing director of Serco’s clinical healthcare business, said: “As Dr Colin-Thomè’s report states, ‘I did not find any evidence that the current OOH service is or has been systematically clinically unsafe’.

“The report also acknowledges that we have put in place an action plan to address all the issues raised in the earlier CQC report.
“This is making excellent progress and all the required actions will be complete by the end of this month. We are pleased that our service continues to be highly rated in independent patient surveys.”
He added that revised protocols over data recording were now in place.

Mr Forden added: “We apologise that this has happened. We have undertaken this very detailed review and worked openly and transparently with the PCT.
“However we are not in any way complacent and we recognise that we have a number of improvements to implement following the PCT, the CQC and Dr Colin-Thome reports.
“We are continuing to work closely with the PCT to put these changes in place and improve the service what we are proud to deliver throughout Cornwall.”

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/9941010.Serco_gave_NHS_false_data_about_its_GP_service_252_times/?ref=mr

I hope the "what" in the last sentence is a typo, or my confidence in Serco will sink even lower!

Posted: 05-11-2012 02:20 Post subject:

Posted: 24-01-2013 16:55 Post subject:

Private health contractor's staff told to cut 999 calls to meet targets
Leaked email from Serco managers tells workers to manipulate computer system to 'stop the clock' on emergency calls
Felicity Lawrence
The Guardian, Wednesday 23 January 2013 15.35 GMT

Call handlers staffing an out-of-hours GP service run by the private contractor Serco have been told to make new checks before calling 999 when they receive what appear to be emergency cases in order to cut down the number of referrals they make to the ambulance service.

The Guardian has also seen a management email to staff describing how they should manipulate their computer system in order to meet targets set down in the company's contract on 999 responses.

Serco introduced a new cost-saving NHS IT system to the out-of-hours service it runs in Cornwall last summer as required by the local commissioners, enabling it to replace skilled clinicians with call-handlers without medical training who follow a computer-generated script to assess patients. The move triggered a fourfold increase in ambulance call-outs.

An email from Serco managers to staff this month, leaked by a whistleblower to the Guardian, instructed call-handlers to "stop the clock" if the IT system reaches a screen telling the operator to make a 999 call while they check it. Staff have expressed concern that this might delay an ambulance in a real emergency and that the new system is not sophisticated enough to distinguish between urgent and less serious cases.

The Guardian revealed last year that whistleblowers believed the company was putting patients at risk and falsifying data. Suspicions over the service will be raised again by these latest revelations.

There are also new allegations that the company is running the service with too few staff to operate safely. In the most recent case, over the weekend before Christmas, 22-23 December last month, a whistleblower has told the Guardian that some patients and doctors trying to call the service abandoned their attempts because they could not get through.
The local NHS primary care trust confirmed that it would ask auditors to verify the call-handling records in question and is investigating what went wrong in December.

The Serco managers' email appears to instruct staff on how to manipulate the way it records 999 cases in order to make sure it does not miss the performance targets on which it is paid.

"Please be aware that once the disposition screen for a 999 response is reached, we have three minutes in which to close the call and phone South Western ambulance service trust," it says.
"If the call remains 'open' for longer than this three-minute window we fail on our KPIs (key performance indicators). If you do not want/cannot close the call immediately … please click back to the previous screen and 'change answer' as this in essence stops the clock," the email continues.

In an effort to cut the increase in numbers of ambulances being called out, Serco has introduced a "floorwalker" who is a nurse or doctor, and has instructed its call handlers to check with them first whether the patient really is a 999 case, making it more likely that the three-minute target could be missed.

Serco admitted that the service had seen a rise in ambulance callouts when the new call-handling system was put in place and that the email had been sent by its managers, but said it was "poorly worded", "misleading" and "inaccurate".

It denied that staff had been asked to stop the clock or change performance measures. Paul Forden, Serco's managing director of clinical services, said: "The system tracks the time starting from completion of the clinical decision until the transfer to the ambulance service. The systems do not in any way change the performance that is reported to the PCT; they actually ensure more accurate reporting and all of these measures are taken in a completely open manner with the agreement of the PCT and the South Western ambulance service NHS trust. Patient safety is absolutely at the heart of this service."

The Cornwall PCT that awarded and monitors the contract said it would never agree to changes being made to the way calls are recorded in the manner described in the email, but that it had been assured by Serco that it was not in fact "stopping the clock". Bridget Sampson, its director of primary care, said the PCT had approved the introduction of clinical staff to overrule the system to ensure emergency services are reserved for those in most need.

etc...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/23/private-health-contractor-999-calls