The collection and marketing of all NHS and social care information is to be given over to a public-private partnership between the statutory body the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) and a commercial enterprise called Dr Foster Ltd.
The Department of Health has been unable to say whether the deal was initially put out to tender as European law dictates.
Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has recruited Matt Tee, Director of Business Development at Dr Foster as the acting director of communications at the Department of Health; and Dr Foster has taken on Sir Robin Young, a former permanent secretary of Hewitt in her former role at the Department of Trade and Industry, and elevated him to the board of the parent company.
It all sounds rather incestuous, doesn’t it?
Doing the Rounds, Private Eye, No. 1151, 3-16 February 2006
