19.08.20
NHS launches £10bn open opportunity to reduce waiting times
NHS England has published a new open opportunity contract notice valued at £10bn ahead of an intention in September to establish a framework agreement of service providers capable of helping NHS trusts and services reduce waiting times impacted by coronavirus.
The notice, which was published on August 17, 2020 and runs until August 27, 2020, will allow potential suppliers to engage with NHS England about involvement on the Waiting List Reduction Framework Agreement.
Once established, according to the contract notice, the outsourced framework is expected to run from November 2020 through until December 2022. It has been marked as unsuitable for SME and VCSE businesses.
Services looking to be procured and outsourced as part of the contract include NHS inpatient and outpatient (including full supporting pathology and imaging) services and urgent elective care and cancer treatment to service users in line with nationally set criteria, as well as NHS patient non-elective care (either direct admission or transfer from an NHS organisation).
The framework agreement may be accessed by all CCGs and NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts across England.
As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the NHS has faced significant delays to regular treatments and notably reduced capacities as a result of necessary infection control measures and procedures.
This has culminated in a backlog of treatment which the health service is seeking to help overcome as restrictions continue to be lifted, with efforts to bring down waiting times to at least pre-Covid levels having been identified as a priority.
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