By Tony Collins
CSC has confirmed in a statement to Techweekeurope that it may cut 500 jobs on its NHS account.
“We can confirm that, regrettably, we have recently started a formal 90-day consultation process in the UK which could reduce the number of people working on our NHS account by up to a maximum of 500 people,” CSC told TechWeek Europe.
“This action is necessary mainly because we have now substantially completed many key development activities with NHS, and are now moving away from a focus on development work.”
CSC told The Register that it regretted having to take put jobs at risk, but it was necessary because its NHS workload was getting smaller.
CSC has confirmed it is to write-off almost $1.5bn (£957m) as a result of its involvement in the National Programme for IT (NPfIT).
Comment:
CSC is by no means quitting the NHS. Its NPfIT contract is still in force although it remains unrevised, out of date and subject to legal discussions. CSC has large numbers of UK trusts and GP practices as customers, which will need support and upgrades. If it cuts 500 jobs this may indicate the effective end of the monolith that was the NPfIT which will continue in a much diminished, though still expensive, form, largely because of contracts between the Department of Health and BT.
It appears that the dismantling of the NPfIT has begun in earnest, thanks largely to Cabinet Office officials, its Major Projects Group, the Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude, David Cameron and the Department of Health’s Managing Director of NHS Informatics Katie Davis.
The campaign to stop a new deal being signed with CSC was led by the Conservative MP Richard Bacon, a member of the House of Commons’ Public Accounts Committee who was concerned that a new deal would not be good value for money.
It’s to be hoped that CSC will manage to find other work for the 500. The company says it hopes to achieve the job changes through voluntary redundancies and redeploying people within other parts of its business, without the need for compulsory redundancies.
Techweek europe article that includes CSC’s statement.
MP contacts No 10 and Cabinet Office over future of the NPfIT.
Campaign4Change 
IT is to be hoped that any CSC people with informatics health domain experience will take up registration with UK Council for Health Informatics Professions (UKCHIP) in order to indicate their fitness to practice in or for the NHS and their committment to a professional Code of Conduct. It is going to be a very competitive field for ‘new’ job hunters and each will need USPs and the edge over other applicants, especially whilst the NHS Informatics strategy is still virtual and the future of the Health & Social Care Bill still in the melting pot.
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