Department of Health under fire for data deal

The deal was meant to deliver benefits to the NHS through better use of information

MPs have criticised a joint venture set up to develop and market NHS data for breaching competitive tendering rules.

A Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report to Parliament today said the Department of Health handed private sector company Dr Foster £12m to finance the deal with the Health Information Centre without going out to tender.

PAC chairman Edward Leigh said £7.6m ‘went straight into the pockets of Dr Foster's shareholders’ and accused officials of ignoring Treasury guidance and handing the deal to the company ‘on a plate’.

Whitehall buying agency the Office of Government Commerce said the joint venture was set up ‘under a cloak of secrecy under the guise of commercial sensitivity’.

The department claimed the venture would deliver benefits to patients and the NHS through better use of information in policy development, service delivery, management of NHS services and patient choice.