PM's Adviser Accused of Conflict of Interest Over Role with Babylon Health
Dominic Cummings advised company behind Fulham based GP At Hand app
Prime Minister Boris Johnson's most senior aide, Dominic Cummings, is facing conflict of interest accusations over a consultancy role he undertook for Babylon Health, which runs the Fulham based service, GP At Hand.
An investigation by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism uncovered Cummings' previously undisclosed paid consultancy role advising the controverisal start-up company Babylon Health on its communications strategy and senior recruitment just months.
The joint investigation revealed that this took place just months before before its GP at Hand app was publicly backed by Matt Hancock, the health secretary.
It also found that while Cummings’ paid role with Babylon concluded in July last year, he continued to advise the company until September 2018. That month Matt Hancock visited the company and told staff he wanted the NHS to help Babylon expand.
In August this year, Downing Street and the Department of Health announced a new £250m fund for boosting the use of artificial intelligence for diagnoses and data analysis in the NHS. Although the money has yet to be allocated, Babylon welcomed the announcement.
There are no rules requiring special advisers to disclose previous private sector roles, but MPs said Cummings’ undisclosed advisory role raised serious questions about potential conflicts of interest.
“The links between Dominic Cummings in the heart of Downing Street, the health secretary and this AI health firm are increasingly murky and highly irresponsible," the shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said.
“Mr Cummings’ work for this company raises serious questions about a potential conflict of interest given the firm could be in line to receive public money from this new £250m AI fund.
“We need to know if he declared his work for the firm to the cabinet secretary when he joined the government payroll.
“Cummings should come clean on any other consultancy work he did before entering Downing Street so the public can have confidence that there are no other conflict of interest issues at play.”
Babylon Health confirmed to trade publication Digital Health News that Cummings carried out a “very short, one-off piece of consultancy work” advising on the company’s communications strategy.
“This piece of work was completed in 10 days and happened a full year before he was appointed by Government,” they said.
“Our mission is to give accessible, affordable healthcare to everyone on the planet and we wanted an external view of our communications plans.
“We were also looking to appoint a PR Director and Mr Cummings was involved in the recruitment process on a couple of days in September 2018, but no-one was appointed.”
Downing Street declined to answer detailed questions about Cummings’ consultancy work, including his earnings from Babylon, which other firms he had advised, and why it had not been publicly disclosed.
A spokesman said: “Special advisers act in accordance with special advisers’ code and the relevant provisions of the civil service code, acting with integrity, and serving the public interest. Special advisers have no role in authorising expenditure of public funds.”
The company holds an NHS contract with Hammersmith and Fulham Clinical Commissioning Group for its GP at Hand app, which allows patients to have GP appointments 24/7 via video-call.
It began its London operations based out of one surgery in Lillie Road in 2017. But it has rapidly expanded, as patients throughout and beyond London signed up to the app.
This meant the local CCG was having to pay Babylon Health for thousands of new patients signing up to the app, despite fewer than 10% of them living in Hammersmith and Fulham, leaving the CCG with a funding deficit of at least £21 million.
In June it was announced that the CCG was to be given a £21.6 million cash injection by NHS England to help pay bills it is expected to incur this year, after around 51,000 patients signed up to GP at Hand.
NHS England’s website says the GP at Hand app is a digital "innovation" that will help the NHS reach its 2021 target, that "every patient in England will have access to online and video consultation – if they choose it".
However, Andy Slaughter, MP for Hammersmith, has called for a parliamentary investigation into GP at Hand’s funding.
He said NHS appears to be facilitating the digital provider “without looking at the consequences for primary care”.
And the MP told Digital Health News: “Babylon has been favoured by the health secretary and the justified concerns of GPs, CCGs and professional bodies have been dismissed by government and the NHS.
“Now, to find that the PM’s senior adviser has benefited personally and that Babylon may be in line for department funding escalates fears about this relationship.
“There should be no additional cooperation with Babylon GP at Hand until these links have been thoroughly and independently investigated.”
October 18, 2019
