Public procurement notice: Prior Information Notice Without Call For Competition
Published: 2019-03-04
Buyer: NHS Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit NHS Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit on behalf of NHS England
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
CPV classification: 85100000: Health services

Technical requirements: Prior Information Notice for Diabetic Eye Screening Procurement for NHS England Midlands and East (Central Midlands) South Locality
NHS Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (AGCSU) on behalf of NHS England Midlands and East (Central Midlands) would like to inform potential providers of a potential procurement that will take place late 2019/early 2020 for Diabetic Eye Screening Procurement for NHS England Midlands and East (Central Midlands) which will cover the following geographical locations:
Prior Information Notice for Diabetic Eye Screening Procurement for NHS England Midlands and East (Central Midlands) South Locality
The Diabetic Eye Screening programme seeks to reduce the risk of sight loss amongst people with diabetes by the prompt identification and effective treatment, if necessary, of sight threatening diabetic retinopathy at the appropriate stage during the disease process. Screening events for persons with diabetes may comprise:
— routine digital screening: first stage of the screening pathway, where digital images are obtained, graded and a referral outcome is decided,
— digital surveillance: the pathway under which a person with diabetes requires monitoring on a more frequent basis than annual routine digital screening but there is no current requirement for the person with diabetes to be referred to Hospital Eye Services (HES), and
— Slit Lamp Biomicroscopy (SLB) surveillance: the method of screening people with diabetes for whom adequate retinal examination cannot be obtained by retinal photography.
— identify the eligible population and ensure effective service delivery designed to optimise uptake of service,
— are safe, effective, externally and independently monitored, quality assured, and put meeting the patient’s clinical needs at the heart of the service offer,
— are delivered and supported by suitably trained, competent, qualified, clinical and non-clinical staff who, where relevant, participate in recognised on-going Continuous Professional Development (CPD), and Quality Assurance (QA) schemes,
To ensure a consistent and equitable approach to the provision and monitoring of NHS Diabetic Eye Screening Programmes (NDESP) across England, the local specification is consistent with the national service specification.
The service specification for the NDESP outlines the service and quality indicators expected by NHS England (the Commissioner) for their responsible population. The current published national service specification can be found at the below link:
It should be noted that the NDESP will be updated to implement extended screening intervals. The national service specification reflects initial requirements to implement this development in 2019-2020. Given that this change is anticipated during the term of the contract, the provider will need to demonstrate how they will be able to reflect any new requirements or changes to the national programme in its service provision.
The contract is due to commence on 1.4.2021. The contract length will be confirmed at future market engagement events. The current diabetic eye screening activity, split by current Lots are listed below. These figures are based on achieving minimum KPI uptake levels.
— Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire: approximately 40 000 screening events (15 000 in Milton Keynes and 25 000 in Buckinghamshire).