One Health Group – one of the UK's leading independent providers of surgical services to the NHS - has confirmed that two of the largest NHS commissioners with which it works have renewed their contracts. It is expected that these new agreements will run for five years rather than one, which has been the case previously, and will cover approximately 4,000 new patients and 2,000 surgical procedures per year.
The two contracts are with Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) and South Yorkshire ICB who also act as One Health's lead commissioner for Derby and Derbyshire and West Yorkshire ICB's. Under these agreements, One Health will continue to provide free care to NHS patients over a longer term in Doncaster, Barnsley, Rotherham, Sheffield, Wakefield, Kirklees, Leeds, Bradford and most of Lincolnshire. One Health has worked with the majority of these NHS commissioners for over 10 years.
Prior to these agreements being established, One Health operated under multiple, individual 12-month Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) contracts with each one being renewed every April. Following the establishment of ICB's, and the abolition of CCG's in July 2022, the annual contracts continued, but incorporated wider regions that were previously covered by the individual CCG contracts.
Under the new contracts, rather carrying out a ‘mini tender' process across multiple regions every year, One Health will provide updated policies and supporting documentation as well as anticipated activity levels for the following year by region. As pricing will continue to be dictated by the ‘National NHS Tariff', there is no requirement for any financial negotiations. This means the amount of time and effort spent administering renewals, by both the NHS and One Health, will be significantly reduced.
Adam Binns – CEO of One Health Group said: "These longer-term commitments are a clear indication of the value that One Health delivers to the NHS' infrastructure and also demonstrate the vital role we play in its supply chain. Most importantly, having this certainty in place will allow us to focus on activities that make a difference to the lives of patients as we will have the confidence to consider new investments in facilities and additional support services at a time when central government public funding is challenging and scarce."