21.05.13
Regulations ‘do not force’ commissioners into competition – Monitor
Draft guidance has been published to help commissioners procure patient services whilst complying with new regulations on procurement, patient choice and competition.
Monitor has put the guidance out to consultation until July 11. The regulator will ensure that commissioners operate within the legal framework established by the regulations and will investigate complaints about procurement decisions.
Dr David Bennett, chief executive of Monitor, said: “It is for commissioners to decide what services to purchase and how best to secure them for their local population. Monitor's role is limited to ensuring that commissioners have operated within the legal framework established by the regulations. Our guidance is intended to be a practical tool that helps them improve the quality of services, and that is why we are consulting clinical commissioning groups and others on this draft.
“The guidance makes it clear that the regulations do not force commissioners to go out to tender for every service, but equally commissioners should not simply roll-over existing contracts without first asking how good the service is, and whether it could be improved to give patients a better deal. If so, the next steps might be evaluating alternative providers if there are any and if not negotiating a better arrangement with the existing provider. These are matters for commissioners to consider in exercising their duties. As a sector regulator, Monitor will be able investigate any complaints about procurement decisions in England as an alternative to bringing cases before the courts.”
David Worskett, chief executive of the NHS Partners Network, supported basing guidance on a set of principles and said: “We do believe the NHS would benefit from a more proactive encouragement of choice and plurality of provider. So we think it is regrettable that the guidance does not go further in this respect but we recognise the political reality.
“The guidance also seems to confirm that there will be many circumstances where formal procurement will not be required. While this is consistent with what the Government had indicated, as a result there may well still be insufficient challenge to incumbent providers offering sub-optimal services. That cannot be in the best interests of patients.”
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