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Unite Calls for Government Action to Save Fujitsu Redundancies on GBP13bn NHS IT Contract
LONDON, September 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Unite, the UK's largest union, will today (Thursday) be pressing the Government to step in to safeguard the jobs and skills of up to 200 people who previously worked on the GBP12.7bn NHS IT contract with the IT service company Fujitsu. The NHS IT contract for the south of England provided for modernisation of IT systems, electronic patient records and quick and easy access to information and test results. The union is meeting with Health Minister Ben Bradshaw in an attempt to avert Fujitsu sacking the 200 staff who remain from the 1000 people originally working on the NHS contract, and follows the decision of Fujitsu to withdraw from contract negotiations and termination of the GBP1.1bn contract share for the south of England announced in June. Unite fears that Fujitsu will announce the dismissal of many of the remaining staff next week at the expiry of the original 90 day consultation period on 18 September, and is calling on the company to extend the consultation period to enable redeployment of staff within Fujitsu or transfers to a future provider such as BT. Peter Skyte, Unite National Officer, said: "The remaining workforce is being used as a bargaining chip by Fujitsu, BT and the Department of Health in a three-way game of poker with people's skills, lives and livelihoods at stake. "We want the Health Minister to bang heads together and find a way of bridging the gap for an interim period while negotiations continue between the parties. "This can ensure that the skilled staff can be redeployed either within Fujitsu or to another provider to help the project continue to a successful conclusion in the interests of patients, the NHS and the health of the nation."
