New panel will oversee NHS competition regime, DHSC decides

The government will set up an independent panel to oversee disputes arising from decisions made under a new provider selection regime, it said today.

The new panel should “help ensure that… procurement processes are transparent, fair and propionate, enabling all providers to compete for contracts” and “are not unfairly excluded from offering services to patients and service users”, the Department of Health and Social Care said in a response to its consultation on the new rules governing the commissioning of healthcare services.

The intent is to move the NHS away from always putting new contracts out to competitive tender and “towards collaboration across the health and care system”, the document says. 

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Source: HSJ, 14 July 2023