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Serco faces flak over UK services

Outsourcing giant Serco is having to defend its running of health services in Britain, amid claims it is cutting corners and failing to meet performance targets.

With Serco's Asia-Pacific arm set to provide all non- clinical services at Fiona Stanley Hospital, its British operations continue to face flak about running services short-staffed, causing long waiting times for patients.

In a letter published by the British Medical Journal this week, Serco rejected claims of a lack of transparency in its operations and insisted it was properly resourced for its $250 million three-year contract to run Suffolk community health for the National Health Service.

Detailed claims were made in the medical journal last month, and aired on BBC Radio, that the company was failing on response times and the Suffolk commissioning group had raised an official contract query with Serco which could result in fines.

It came after revelations of staff shortages and falsified response times in Serco's $58 million contract to run an after-hours GP service in Cornwall.

In the letter, Serco's director of community services in Suffolk, Sharon Colclough, said it had agreed to 15 new key performance indicators last April and so far was meeting seven.

She said the company had received a contract query for the Suffolk contract but had agreed to remedial action.

Serco will directly employ more than 1000 people at Fiona Stanley Hospital when it is fully operational.