French IT big Atos has denied experiences that it’s dealing with monetary points that would severely impression the NHS and different public companies.
In a information story revealed on 18 June 2024, i reported that the UK authorities has held secret talks about cashflow points affecting Atos, which has virtually a billion kilos’ value of UK authorities contracts, together with offering know-how companies for NHS England and NHS hospitals.
Atos’ work within the UK public sector consists of working the know-how behind the NHS data in hospitals and the supply of incapacity profit assessments for private independence funds.
The agency admitted in April 2024 that it was dealing with round £3.2 billion debt, based on a report in Bloomberg.
Inside authorities paperwork, reportedly seen by i, which had been mistakenly revealed by the Cupboard Workplace warned of “extreme implications” for the continuity of “crucial” public companies, together with NHS appointments and advantages if the agency’s UK arm collapses.
The federal government is anxious that there might be disruption to NHS appointments and the sharing of well being data if Atos’ monetary points hinder its capability to offer companies, i reported.
Nonetheless a spokesperson for Atos informed Digital Well being Information that the agency is “presently present process a monetary restructuring and reached an settlement with a Consortium and its collectors which can create a steady monetary future globally and within the UK”.
They added: “The supply of companies to our clients has remained unaffected and we are going to proceed offering high-quality companies to the UK public sector as we’ve got for over 30 years.”
The federal government is lining up another IT supplier that might be known as upon to offer these companies for main departments such because the NHS, Residence Workplace and Division for Work and Pensions, i reported.
It added that the paperwork reveal that the federal government recruited advisory agency PwC to work with the Cupboard Workplace on a danger evaluation challenge codenamed ‘Venture Aztec’.
PwC was requested to evaluate the chance of the contractor surviving its monetary difficulties, and if it doesn’t, what the impression of its collapse can be on the working of key companies.
A spokesperson for the Cupboard Workplace informed Digital Well being Information: “We undertake common evaluations of suppliers and now and again will undertake additional due diligence to make sure public companies could be maintained in quite a lot of eventualities.”
They added {that a} discover about Atos was revealed in error and has since been republished “in an acceptable type”.
In 2017, Atos was sued by Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Basis Belief in a multi-million pound declare over an alleged failure to ship sufficient companies.