NHS England has launched a preliminary market engagement exercise aiming to identify potential suppliers to support the future commissioning of multi-neighbourhood training hubs for primary care, with a total value of £80 million.
As part of the engagement, NHS England shares a survey to collect feedback from interested parties around core functionality, deliverability, and clarity on intended outcomes and wider system impact. This also asks for input on possible consortium or subcontracting arrangements, a lotting approach limiting the number of lots that may be awarded to any single provider, and the potential to benefit from economies of scale.
“Responses will inform the development of detailed procurement strategy, specifications and help shape the future delivery model of this programme,” NHSE states. “Prospective bidders will not be disadvantaged by choosing not to respond to this RFI but it will be helpful to understand views at this early stage, so we encourage providers to respond as fully as possible.”
Estimated contract dates are given as April 2028 to March 2031, with an extension available to March 2033. A tender notice is expected around April 2027.
For a recent HTN Now webinar on the role of digital in delivering neighbourhood health, HTN was joined by an expert panel including Fay Johnstone, acute virtual ward matron at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust; Mayur Vibhuti, chief digital, data and intelligence officer at Kent and Medway ICB and Surrey and Sussex ICB; and Saleem Haider, people participation lead for digital at East London NHS Foundation Trust. Our panellists tackled key areas including national guidance and models, what good looks like for digital in neighbourhood health, challenges, approaches, and practical examples.
Wider trend: National digital priorities
NHS England sought feedback earlier this year on its proposed contracting models for multi-neighbourhood provider (MNP) and single neighbourhood provider (SNP) contracts, aiming to promote joined up services, improve health and outcomes, better organise services around local population needs, and outline clearer responsibility for services or pathways. MNPs will plan and organise services spanning several neighbourhoods, ensuring consistency and collaboration, managing how incentive payments are allocated, and working closely with local providers including SNPs, GPs, community health services, NHS trusts, and wider public services.
NHS England has set out a model discharge pathway, noting seven principles of discharge and what organisations need to have in place to deliver the model. “While the components of good discharge are well understood, they are not applied consistently,” NHSE notes. “There is still unwarranted variation between wards, sites and systems, and across different days and times of year.” The model puts focus on early decisions about those who can be supported through alternative pathways such as virtual wards (Hospital at Home). Local teams will increasingly play a critical role in supporting those with complex needs as neighbourhood-based care develops, NHSE explains, with plans for proactive in-reach into wards and collaboration with hospital teams on early discharge.
NHS England has also opened a secondary care medicines data pre-market engagement, with high level objectives around achieving a reporting function on stock and daily issuance of medicines in secondary care, and a price comparison tool. With a total value of £6.75 million, the preliminary market engagement notice shares details of plans to secure capability and related tooling for the processing of data from hospital pharmacy systems, along with associated licensing and implementation support.
