Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons the Central and East London Breast Screening Service was transferred from Barts Health NHS Trust to Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust on 1 April 2018; and what benefits were anticipated from that transfer.

Under the Public Contract Regulations 2015 and the NHS (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No. 2) Regulations 2013, NHS commissioners are duty bound to ensure all contracts for National Health Service healthcare services are able to demonstrate value for money and to deliver the best possible service to all patients that access the services, in line with the requirements of the commissioner.

The contract for Central and East London Service was put out to tender in November 2016 and a procurement process, in line with the Public Contract regulations, was conducted. The procurement was open to any suitably capable provider. Following the successful conclusion of the procurement, the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust was identified as the provider that demonstrated value for money, offered the most suitable service provision, and ability to deliver the service as commissioners had designed it, against the required criteria. Hence the service delivery passed from Barts Health NHS Trust to Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.

As standards were not being met at the time of the transfer of the service, the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust was commissioned to deliver against an agreed recovery plan which runs until September 2019. The service is currently achieving monthly trajectories for improvement and meeting key performance indicators. It is subject to monitoring on a monthly basis by both NHS England and the London Breast Screening Quality Assurance Service.