Following its postponement in August of last year, an updated draft of the Health Services (Provider Selection Regime) (Wales) Regulations has been laid before the Senedd.
Under the Health Service Procurement (Wales) Act 2024, the regulations will introduce a new regime for the procurement of health services on behalf of the NHS in Wales. They are intended to introduce a flexible, proportionate process for selecting providers of health services, introduce greater collaboration across the health system, ensure decisions about how health services are arranged are made transparently, and reduce bureaucracy and cost.
The Act separates healthcare service procurement regimes in Wales from those in England. This does not affect the procurement of goods, only services, unless arranged as part of a mixed procurement agreement.
County Councils, County Borough Councils, Local Health Boards, NHS Trusts and Special Health Authorities must regard the statutory guidance to the regulations when procuring health services on behalf of the NHS in Wales.
NEW RULES INTRODUCED
The updated regulations include the following new rules for those looking to procure health services:
- Relevant authorities must publish a notice of intention to award a contract, observing an eight working day standstill
- Relevant authorities must publish a notice when contracts are awarded under a single provider framework agreement
- Relevant authorities must observe an eight working day standstill period for contracts awarded under a concluded framework agreement with a competition or without
- Relevant authorities are exempt from publishing sensitive commercial information under certain circumstances
FIND OUT MORE
The existing statutory guidance and draft training materials accompanying the regulations are being updated by Welsh Government to reflect these changes.
You can read a written statement about the changes from the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care.
These regulations will come into force on 24 February 2025.
Find out about the work of WCVA’s Health and Social Care Project.