UK Government Awards Health Crisis Call Center Contracts to Four Companies

The UK government is preparing in advance for any public health crisis that may befall the nation in the future. The first step has been to award contracts to four call center services providers to create national health-related contact center operations that could be used to handle a crisis related to anything from flu pandemics to bioterrorism to natural disaster-related health care crises.

The UK government agency in charge of the new program, the Department of Health (DH) has reportedly awarded a framework agreement to four suppliers for health-related managed contact center services; worth up to £500 million ($784.5 million), The Register (News - Alert) is reporting today. (The newspaper uses the phrase “Zombie Apocalypse” in the headline to describe a potential major health crisis. We're not sure if there's much a call center can do in the event of a Zombie Apocalypse, however.)

The four call center services companies that received contracts are Capita Customer Management, 118, Vangent and MM Teleperformance (News - Alert). According to a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union, the firms will provide contact center services across health and social care bodies throughout the UK and will be expected to provide a “comprehensive solution” that will meet the needs of the bodies involved in the framework. The notice explains that this may include all the elements required to deliver contact center services including people, processes, systems, technology, facilities and equipment.

“These [contact center] services will offer a flexible on-demand solution for use in all or any of the following scenarios: pandemic, including but not limited to delivery of contact center services for the National Pandemic Flu Service; any other health-related emergency circumstances; and any other health-related activities that require contact center service support,” according to the notice.

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