ICB considers new tender after halting private provider GP contract transfer

An ICB which reversed its decision to transfer an APMS contract held by a GP-led community interest company to a private provider has said it may once again put the contract out for procurement next year.

This was revealed by NHS Sussex ICB which was being questioned at a special meeting held by Brighton & Hove City Council’s health overview and scrutiny committee. 

In July, an NHS independent patient choice and procurement panel ruled the ICB breached provider selection regime (PSR) rules during the contract bidding process where it decided to transfer the APMS contract for the Whitehawk practice in Brighton. 

The ICB’s decision to put the APMS contract out to procurement rather than directly award the contract back to GP-led Wellsbourne Healthcare CIC prompted an outcry from some residents.

ICB chief executive Adam Doyle told councillors an external review of the the procurement process had not yet started. 

He said he anticipated publication of the review early next year, after which point ‘everything from direct award to procurement’ was on the table. 

Mr Doyle said the review would scrutinise if the process was ‘true and fair’ and was conducted in ‘an appropriate way that would follow our procurement rules as an organisation’. 

‘I don’t want to pre-empt the outcome of the review but there are many options once we see what the review says: everything from a direct award to re-procurement’, he said. 

Wellsbourne Healthcare CIC has run the practice since 2018, but earlier this year the ICB had awarded a new seven-year APMS contract to One Medical Group, a Leeds-based private company. 

A petition to prevent the award of the contract to One Medical Group started by Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven MP Chris Ward received more than 3,000 signatures, and Wellsbourne CIC appealed. 

The NHS panel said in July that the ICB breached PSR regulations in four respects, most notably:  

• ‘In not providing information to bidders about the locally commissioned services (LCSs) they might potentially supply’  

• ‘In requesting bidders’ estimates of their likely income from LCSs and other sources without supplying information about these LCSs’. 

Following the panel’s findings, Sussex ICB halted the procurement process, and in August it confirmed Wellsbourne would continue to run the practice for a further 12 months. 

Brighton council said Friday’s meeting was necessary at this stage to address concerns about a lack of community engagement in the contract process and the decision to put the contract out to competitive tender despite the popularity of the Wellsbourne service locally. 

Labour councillor Gill Williams asked if the ICB had considered directly awarding the new contract to Wellsbourne, the extant holders, and if so, why had it ultimately decided to put the contract out to competitive tender. 

Sussex ICB integration and primary care officer Amy Galea confirmed the ICB had considered this but decided a competitive process was necessary ‘to ensure we were delivering value for money for the population’. 

Pulse has approached the ICB to clarify if it can name the organisation leading the external review.

In July, the procurement panel backed Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICB’s plans to replace a GP cooperative with a private provider to run out-of-hours services in the area.  

And last year, a Lancashire GP kept her practice’s APMS contract following a two-year, patient led campaign. 

Private provider SSP Health had initially been awarded the contract, but this caused patient protests and the ICB was forced to re-run the procurement process.