NHSI pathology reconfiguration

The request was successful.

Dear Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust,

NHS Improvement wrote to the chief executives of all non-specialist acute trusts in England on or around 7th September 2017 in relation to their proposal for pathology hubs and spokes, which divided English NHS hospitals into 29 groups. Chief executives were required to reply by September 30th 2017, either agreeing to commit resources to forming a pathology hub and spoke with the other trusts defined for them by NHS improvement, or to submit an alternative proposal. In relation to this, please answer the following questions:

a. Has the chief executive of your trust written to confirm their acceptance of the proposal from NHS Improvement

b. If the answer to a) is ‘no’, do they plan to and if so by when?

c. If the answer to a) is ‘no’, has the trust submitted an alternative proposal

d. Are the trust considering (either in alignment with the NHS Improvement proposal, or as an alternative) any solutions which would involve partnerships with or outsourcing (we are excluding the sending of low volume specialist tests to these companies from the definition of outsourcing) to private sector laboratory companies (defined as companies which manage laboratories such as TDL, Sonic, HSL, synlab, Labco, Viapath, and not companies which provide equipment such as Siemens, Abbott laboratories, or Roche)

e. Have the trust, either individually, or collectively with the other trusts in its group, ruled out any form of partnership or outsourcing the management of their laboratories as defined above, for the foreseeable future.

Yours faithfully,

J Graham

FOIRequests (ROYAL UNITED HOSPITALS BATH NHS FOUNDATION TRUST), Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust

Dear J Graham

 

Thank-you for your email received on 3rd October 2017 requesting
information which has been processed under the Freedom of Information Act.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of
this Act. I can confirm that the Trust is holding records that are
relevant to your enquiry.

 

Request Response
NHS Improvement wrote to the chief The RUH have responded to the letter
executives of all non-specialist to indicate we will be working with
acute trusts in England on or around the proposed network to examine the
7th September 2017 in relation to opportunity in more detail.   
their proposal for pathology hubs and
spokes, which divided English NHS  
hospitals into 29 groups.   Chief
executives were required to reply by  
September 30th 2017, either agreeing
to commit resources to forming a  
pathology hub and spoke with the
other trusts defined for them by NHS  
improvement, or to submit an
alternative proposal.  In relation to  
this, please answer the following
questions:  

   

a. Has the chief executive of your  
trust written to confirm their
acceptance of the proposal from NHS  
Improvement
 
 
 

 

 
b. If the answer to a) is ‘no’, do N/A
they plan to and if so by when?

 
c. If the answer to a) is ‘no’, has N/A
the trust submitted an alternative
proposal

 
d. Are the trust considering (either We will re-procure currently
in alignment with the NHS Improvement outsourced services in the most
proposal, or as an alternative) any appropriate way when current
solutions which would involve contracts expire.
partnerships with or outsourcing (we
are excluding the sending of low
volume specialist tests to these
companies from the definition of
outsourcing) to private sector
laboratory companies (defined as
companies which manage laboratories
such as TDL, Sonic, HSL, synlab,
Labco, Viapath, and not companies
which provide equipment such as
Siemens, Abbott laboratories, or
Roche)

 
e. Have the trust, either We examine all opportunities on
individually, or collectively with their merits and do not yet have
the other trusts in its group, ruled sufficient information about any
out any form of partnership or future partnership arrangements to
outsourcing the management of their make this kind of judgement.  
laboratories as defined above, for
the foreseeable future.

 

 

I trust that this information provides you with a suitable response to
your enquiry. If not and you feel that your request has not been
satisfactorily answered, then the Trust has an internal review procedure
for dealing with complaints received under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 whereby your case is presented to the Chairman for an independent
review/decision.  Alternatively, you do have the right to complain to the
Information Commissioners Office after any internal review procedure has
been exhausted. The Information Commissioners Office is an independent
body that enforces the Freedom of Information Act, the Data Protection Act
and the Environmental Information regulations. The address of the
Information Commissioner is Information Commissioners Office, Wycliffe
House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,  Cheshire  SK9 5AF

If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact
me again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Julie Clark

FOI Co-ordinator

Health Informatics Service (E5)

Apley House

Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust
Combe Park, Bath, BA1 3NG

 

 

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