The biggest stories and talking points in the NHS

Play nice

An under-fire STP has created a list of “helpful” and “unhelpful” behaviours for its board members to stick to.

Nene Clinical Commissioning Group’s latest governing body papers revealed the Northamptonshire STP board has promised to “trust” each other and “do what we say we will do”.

The STP was one of four rated “in need of improvement” by NHS England last summer.

The resulting “values” document said board members should not display “behaviours that are considered to be unhelpful”, such as:

  • sending “critical and unhelpful emails”;
  • speaking up in meetings to “then voice critical views outside of meetings”;
  • seeking to “undermine decisions and ignore them or try and get them changed”;
  • looking “after ourselves and distancing ourselves from any trouble”; and
  • focusing “only on the negatives and blaming each other”.

Poor behaviour will be monitored by the STP chair and the chairs of the organisations in the STP. Every three months, they will “review progress” and twice a year produce a report on how well the partnership is sticking to its promises.

Full circle

A legal challenge by Circle Healthcare has derailed the procurement process for the Nottingham Treatment Centre.

Commissioners confirmed on Thursday that they will no longer award the £150m, three year contract as planned this year. Instead, they will allow Circle to continue operating the centre for a further year. A new procurement process for after then will be launched later this year.

Circle pulled out of the procurement in March and started legal action against Rushcliffe CCG, which is the lead commissioner for the treatment centre on behalf of all Nottinghamshire CCGs.

HSJ understands the dispute focuses on significant cost reductions and efficiencies built into the contract, which reduces its annual value to £50m a year. In 2017-18, the contract was valued at £67m for the year.

The current procurement process will be cancelled and will restart later this year for after July 2019 and an advert for potential bidders is due to be released in coming months.