Harmoni
Harmoni was a provider of outsourced healthcare services including Out-of-hours services, NHS 111, prisoner healthcare and IT services.[1] It provided NHS services to more than eight million people in the UK.
It was created by a merger of WCI’s IT services division and the Harmoni GP cooperative.[2] It was the most successful out-of-hours provider in winning the Government’s NHS 111 contracts in 2012.
It was sold in 2012 by ECI Partners to Care UK for about £50 million.[3]
The company claimed that it made no profit out of the out-of-hours market. The Chair of Camden's Health Scrutiny Panel said the company won the Out-of-hours contract for Camden not on quality, but on price. They described the service as a loss-leader.[4] It lost the contract for Hackney to the GP co-operative, City and Hackney Urgent Healthcare Social Enterprise in October 2013.[5]
References
- ^ "Suffolk out-of-hours firm Harmoni to run NHS 111 hotline". BBC News. 9 May 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
- ^ "Harmoni". ECI. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
- ^ "Care UK buys largest GP out-of-hours provider". Pulse. 6 November 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
- ^ "Camden GPs criticise Harmoni's 'unprofitable' out-of-hours service". Ham & High. 17 October 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
- ^ "Hackney GPs oust Harmoni from out of hours contract". Hackney Gazette. 1 October 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2015.