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When HSJ first started asking questions about a long-running consultancy contract at Manchester University Foundation Trust a couple of years ago, it was like getting information out of a stone.
But for all its problems, the freedom of information law does occasionally come in handy.
After a series of FOIs, the trust admitted its decade-long contract with Castor Business Consulting, worth around £5m over that time, was never subject to a public tender process.
The contract was instead awarded through a “trust waiver”, which according to its own procurement policy, must be approved by the board of directors.
For two years, the trust’s line was that “robust procurement policy was applied at all times”, but after further questions about whether board approval was given, it has now launched an external review into the contract arrangements.
The firm is run by former PwC consultant Mike Beevers, who for eight months was also an employee of the trust (during which time the payments to Castor appear to have ceased).
Chaos ensues
The Royal College of Ophthalmologists has warned the specialty risks going the way of dentistry, with patients charged for services, unless there is an overhaul of the way it is commissioned.
Its president Ben Burton said: “If we are going to try and keep it as an NHS service, then we definitely need to change what we’re doing, because the current system is causing chaos, with huge financial loss to the NHS and it’s not in the best interests of patients.”
In particular, he argued “generous” tariff rates for cataracts were leading to some patients with “very mild cataracts getting surgery at the expense of other patients going blind”, adding this was “just wrong”.
But the comments sparked ire from private sector lobby group the Independent Healthcare Providers Network, with its chief David Hare telling HSJ: “Some of these confused and confusing comments feel like an unfortunate and unnecessary attack on hard-working colleagues, delivering for NHS patients.”
Also on hsj.co.uk today
In our Comment section, director of NHS Confederation’s ICS network Sarah Walter explains that, while leaders are broadly supportive of the Care Quality Commission’s role in ICS assessment, the current proposals on how this will work need a rethink. Meanwhile, The Integrator takes a look at how covid – the disease itself, rather than its associated consequences – is still causing problems for the health service.
