Blood service looks set to remain in house

NHS Blood and Transplant chief executive Lynda Hamlyn told HSJ she did not expect “too many surprises” when the results of a commercial review of the service are announced this summer.

The service survived the government’s cull of arm’s length bodies last July. However, a further review was announced to look at whether parts of the service, including testing and processing of blood and logistics, could be delivered more effectively by a commercial organisation.

At least eight companies were invited in for discussion with the Department of Health’s commercial directorate. Four of them, including Capita and DHL, expressed an interest.

However, Ms Hamlyn said the service had made a “good case” for keeping the whole supply chain, including testing and processing, in-house.

“Our logistics isn’t just a taxi service, we have to be able to carry it at the right temperature at the right time… these are not things that are open to Fred Bloggs Haulage,” she said.

The review will be handed to health minister Anne Milton for consideration this summer.

In March Ms Milton told the House of Commons it was important to “constantly market-test within NHS provision”. But in a recent letter to Unison, Ms Milton said any decision to hold competitive tendering processes for its services would be “a matter for NHSBT”.

A leading NHS commentator told HSJ the move away from private sector involvement in the blood service was probably connected to a desire to avoid a furore like the one that met proposals to sell off forests.

“You couldn’t pick something more controversial than the blood service for private sector involvement,” the source said.

Nick Seddon, deputy director of think tank Reform, told HSJ the apparent climbdown on private sector involvement in NHS Blood and Transplant indicated a wider trend following the controversy over the Health Bill.

“I think you can safely say the government is going backwards on choice and competition,” he said.

“The government threw out price competition without consideration because it caused a bit of a hoo-ha.”