The Guardian reports that Atos Healthcare, the private healthcare company that performs controversial sickness benefit assessments has confirmed that it makes all its medical staff sign the Official Secrets Act.

Two doctors who work for Atos raised their concerns with the Guardian and online political blog Liberal Conspiracy after the company asked them to sign a document pointing out their obligations under the OSA.

Both doctors believed that signing the document would make staff more reluctant to blow the whistle on patient safety and issues around whether medical assessments were being carried out appropriately.

In February in a parliamentary answer, the UK employment minister Chris Grayling said that his department did not require Atos employees to be bound by the terms of the OSA or extra provisions which bring further penalties for disclosing government information protected under the Act.

In a further parliamentary answer Grayling added: “No Atos Healthcare employees have been prosecuted for breach of confidentiality rules … from 2008 to date.”

Private sector medical staff assessing benefit claimants told to sign Official Secrets Act