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  • NHS admin sent to Indian call centres?

    An efficiency expert has said that more NHS administration should be sent to Indian call centres to save money.

    John Neilson, Managing-Director of the Government-backed NHS Shared Business Services claimed the move would help to prevent service cuts.

    Call centres and offices in India already deal with invoices and other work at a “fraction” of the UK cost.

    Mr Neilson said the work was high quality and only “local UK sensitivity” prevented more being dealt with in India.

     

    • Should NHS work be outsourced abroad to save money?
    • Would NHS admin in India affect you?

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    maillot foot personnalise | 2 January 2013
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    USA | 11 February 2012
  • It is very hard to understand many of them and in some cases they could be talking to someone with a learning disability and needs clear instructions. I have spoken to a few who seem to talk to you as if they are talking a 100miles an hour practised speech. Uk needs the jobs for the people and the people of Uk speak clearly and are always very helpful. If government keeps giving away people's jobs to other countries it is one of the reasons there are so many unemployed not because they are lazy as they leep telling us. Distored thoughts they have.
    Simone Meiszner | 16 November 2011
  • I think it's time we stopped everything being outsourced to India. With unemployment already at an all time high, we need the jobs here. Perhaps we should all boycot companies that do outsource to India.
    Mandy Boyns | 15 June 2011
  • Hi ,Any country trying send all the possible works abroad to save money ,what will happen to the people of that country in the future.Go abroad and and get a job there in the future.Wondering?????
    Anonymous | 13 June 2011
  • May i get online NHS service in India. Just for consulting so that i may get known treatments.
    essar muhthani | 2 June 2011
  • Not only is this libcon government selling off/closing down everything of value - their so-called "efficiency expert" now wants to add insult to injury. I'll say two words "Data Protection" suggest he reads the act and take note. There is so much wrong with this I can't even begin ....
    ceejay | 25 February 2011
  • This would be a really bad move, it is very hard dealing with someone thousands of miles away on the phone who has never experienced using the service you are enquiring about. These call centre staff often have very strong accents and no idea about england. Confidentiality of my records would be my biggest concern. Why would the NHS think this could work, they need to do away with some of the so called managers who leave all the work to the admin staff to do.
    sherine campbell | 25 January 2011
  • What a shame, instead of improving we are going backwards. What a ridiculous idea
    seemin | 25 January 2011
  • If you want reasons not to go along the SBS route and outsource to India then just look at the state of the service that SBS gives! - and just a point to Dan (4th January) - the reason you can`t get through to book a GP appointment is because the last Government built up unreasonable expectations of what a cash-limited service could offer. So let`s have no unreasonable expectations of what an Indian call-centre can do either !
    Alan M | 23 January 2011
  • Go ahead! Working for a water company a few years back that did the same thing created more jobs in the UK to deal with the vast amount of complaints received about the call centres being totally useless!
    Helen | 21 January 2011
  • No, for all the valid reasons listed above!
    Anonymous | 21 January 2011
  • If we were talking about call-centres in Australia or America or even Holland where English is a second language people here wouldnt be so negative. Think about it people.
    Mark Lee | 21 January 2011
  • Its how the world works. If it is cheaper to do elsewhere then they should do it elsewhere. I'd much rather have admin done abroad then have longer waiting lists or old equipment in the hospitals.
    Regg | 21 January 2011
  • Never mind about not being able to understand - what about the loss of British jobs? How are we to get people off benefits if there is no work for them?
    Sandy | 21 January 2011
  • I agree with Laurence and have no problem with the idea of it. However, I had to change banks because I couldn't get things done, and the calls took so long. That can't be right for health matters. But really this debate is laughable, so many staff are currently under threat of redundancy! Many have already taken volunatry redundancy or jumped the sinking ship. GPs are private businesses and in 2013, 80% of the NHS will be privatised anyway! Then, we might actually be grateful for an Indian call centre.
    Gisajob | 21 January 2011
  • Having had the experience of trying to understand someone in an Indian call centre, and getting them to understand my problem, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy! We need to keep all the jobs we can in this country. It is appalling that the Government can even consider such a thing, especially when the Banks are realising that this does not work and are changing call centres back to the UK. The NHS is a British service and advice needs to be given by people who live and work in the UK with good English and cultural experience.
    Lorraine | 21 January 2011
  • I don't know why everyone is getting so het up about this. After all the years of colonialism and benefitting from India's resources, the least we can do is give something back.
    Laurance Trollope | 21 January 2011
  • OMG, Does this goverment have no shame, how can someone whose primary language is not english going to advise a distressed person regarding medical advice, no offence to our counterparts but please, last one out the nhs door turn the lights off please!!!!
    tracey | 21 January 2011
  • If you are all ready anxious about the phone call, then speaking to somebody who does not understand you, and you do not understand them, just makes the whole situation even more unbearable. Bad idea, guys! Keep NHS in UK.
    Helen | 21 January 2011
  • Absolutely not. It is not just a case of losing jobs over here, but more importantly the difficulty of understanding the spoken word on the telephone which is bad enough dealing with a bank.
    Rodger | 21 January 2011
  • Of all the hair-brained "money-saving" ideas, this has to be right up there with hoarding the budget all year and then panic-spending on dren at the last minute. Anyone making a suggestion like this is a walking advert for a minimum IQ to reproduce.
    Douglas | 21 January 2011
  • What is wrong with the Govenment Penpushers. India is not the answer, I know that Banks are moving away from these call centres because of security issues Customer indentities being stolen, money going missing from accounts. It is not broken so dont try to fix it.
    Teresa | 21 January 2011
  • what an appauling rediculous idea. what about information governance, confidentiality etc. no wonder the NHS is in the state its in with the likes of Mr Neilson making such suggestions.
    liz bloomfield | 21 January 2011
  • It would be nice to send these comments to Mr Neilson to show him how ridiculous his idea is. I wonder if he himself has ever tried to communicate with a call centre in India - I think not!
    Sue | 20 January 2011
  • Asolutely not, banks have tried this and it didn't work. I just wouldn't phone my bank after trying once. Britain seems to be the only country willing to sell their workforce down the river
    nora | 20 January 2011
  • Yes I agree the only way this country is going to survive is by using UK employees who work and pay taxes and come off the benefit system. The NHS should be at the forefront of employing UK residents.
    Sue | 20 January 2011
  • Can you imagine, your ill and scared and you phone nhsdirect, only to get though to someone who doesnt understand you! I really think it is a horrible idea!
    Cheryl | 20 January 2011
  • The Banks and Utilities comapnies have shown this doesn't work (I know I used to work for a major bank).I also moved from BT because I had an major issue that was never resolved because no-one could understand me. It is very naive and short-sighted to think it could work for the NHS.
    Kath | 20 January 2011
  • Absolutely not. Banks are withdrawing from these contracts due to customer complaint. Also we need to keep British people in employment to pay taxes and support economic recovery.
    Janet | 20 January 2011
  • Definitely NOT! We are dealing with peoples' lives here! We all know how difficult it is to get them to understand even basic language, imagine in a life or death situation!
    Moira | 20 January 2011
  • No definately not - NHS call centres should stay in this country and employ people who live here.
    Kathy Green | 20 January 2011
  • absolutely not . Nhs is destoying it's self with it's rediculous ideas. I dont think there will be anyone in this country who hasn't had a negative experience trying to resolve issues from call centres who are not based in this country, I have had several times when an issue that should have taken 5 mins to sort took 45mins from a call centre. How lean is that. NO NO NO NO
    Trish | 20 January 2011
  • I used to work for National Savings, all there work from Blackpool is sent ti India for processing. My friends who still work there say all they do is correct the error made over in India, the standard of work is appauling.
    John | 19 January 2011
  • absolutely not! from my experiences of banking and utility admin centres I have never managed to get my issue resolved until I spoke to someone based in the UK. if people aren't frustrated enough with the NHS they soon will be at their wit's end if they start using those call centres!
    Mel | 19 January 2011
  • Definately not, I had enough trouble speaking to call centres in India with regards to my tiscali net work , the problem which was a simple disconnection on their part took two weeks to fix. The call centre found the whole situation very amusing. Goodness only knows what sort of mess they would make of the NHS.
    P Hind | 18 January 2011
  • Why is the NHS always 10 years behind the private sector? The banks are briging there call centre's back to Britain because of all the problems. They don;t work.
    Liz | 13 January 2011
  • absolutely not!! what about patient's confidentiality, language barrier? I do not agree to have my private details handled by strangers across the world.I would not consent to it therefore should have a choice.
    pe | 12 January 2011
  • Outsourcing to India is going to help the UK economy how? Although it's saving money now, it's adding to the unemployment here and ultimately affecting the recession!
    Ally | 11 January 2011
  • i have tried several times now to purchase a discount card without success, because i do not use paypal. please can you give me your telephone number so i can contact you and pay by card to purchase a discount card.
    lynn o connor | 10 January 2011
  • I agree with Maureen, I changed my bank because I was fed up speaking to people I couldn't understand and couldn't understand me when I did telephone banking.
    Scott | 10 January 2011
  • NHS admin sent to Indian call centers is a problem for many people because it is very difficult to understand their spoken word of someone whom has first language in Indian trying to speak English.
    Maureen Erdwin | 10 January 2011
  • Bombay Mix anyone?
    Jeremy | 4 January 2011
  • I can never get through to book a doctor's appointment anyway so it won't make the slightest bit of differnce to me
    Dan | 4 January 2011
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