Thursday 17th July, 2014

NHS England has decided to launch an open public procurement process to outsource its £100m Primary Care Support (PCS) services functions.

The decision was made after NHS England’s PCS Transformation Programme presented three options to its Board on 15 May 2014.

The options consist of:

• Full market testing with an open public procurement
• An in-house option in those areas where outsourcing is not currently in place
• An option to outsource all services to Shared Services Connected Ltd (SSCL), a joint venture between the Cabinet Office and Steria.

Karen Wheeler said: "NHS England is committed to cutting administrative costs for all services, and these changes will benefit patients and the taxpayer by freeing up more money for care".

"We have a skilled and committed set of staff delivering these services already and have put considerable effort into designing a viable in-house solution. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to design a solution which made the required level of efficiencies. We know this is a difficult time for PCS staff and we are committed to ensuring that any transfer process for relevant staff is a smooth as possible."