§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) whether the successful bid for the urology contract with the Ayrshire and Arran health board was the cheapest bid made for the contract;
(2) on how many occasions the NHS management executive has intervened in tendering processes for contracts awarded by each health board during the last 18 months;
(3) if he will ask the NHS management executive to look again at the basis on which Ayrshire and Arran health board have awarded the contract for urology services to the South Ayrshire trust;
(4) what consideration was given by the NHS management executive to the urology contract awarded by Ayrshire and Arran health board to the South Ayrshire NHS trust after the executive had ordered a re-run of the tendering process;
(5) whether the purpose-built facilities for urology services within the North Ayrshire and Arran NHS trust will now be used; whether South Ayrshire NHS trust will have to build new facilities for the urology unit; how much the new urology facilities at the South Ayrshire NHS trust will cost; and how much the new urology facilities in the North Ayrshire and Arran NHS trust cost to build; (6) if he will make a statement outlining the procedure adopted by Ayrshire and Arran health board in awarding a contract for urology services to the South Ayrshire NHS trust;
(7) if he will make a statement on the NHS management executive's remit as regards scrutiny of the award of health board contracts;
(8) on whose instructions the NHS management executive ordered a re-run of the tendering process for
84W
§ Mr. StewartInformation about the value of the assets sold is not available centrally. The actual receipts from the sale of assets are shown in the table.
urology services in Ayrshire and Arran health board; and whether this was supported by Ayrshire and Arran health board.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 23 November 1993]: The role of the NHS management executive in relation to contracting between health boards and NHS trusts is to ensure fair play and that contracts are awarded so as to improve patient care within available resources.
Following representations, the then chief executive of the NHSME asked Ayrshire and Arran health board to explain the background to its decision to award the area urology contract to the North Ayrshire NHS trust. From the information subsequently provided, it appeared that the tenders had not been prepared on a comparable basis. The health board accepted the NHSME's view that the two trusts should be invited to resubmit bids based upon a detailed specification.
The subsequent decision to award the contract to the South Ayr trust was a matter for the health board as purchaser and did not require further reference to the NHSME. The board's decision does not affect the viability of the day surgery unit at Crosshouse hospital which opened on 4 October 1993 at a cost of almost £1 million. The South Ayrshire NHS trust plans to open new day surgery facilities, estimated to cost £3 million, at the Ayr hospital in January 1995.
§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland to what extent the competing NHS trusts were given access to the original bids of the other NHS trusts bidding for the contract during the re-run of the tendering process for the urology contract in Ayrshire and Arran; and what is the standard practice in this matter.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 23 November 1993] : Specific guidance on conducting a tendering exercise for healthcare has not been issued centrally, but a paper on openness in the NHS—MEL(1993)38—was issued by the Scottish Office Home and Health Department. This paper set out a framework for those involved in contracting in which it was emphasised that a lack of openness within the negotiation process was damaging to long-term relationships. In the re-run of the tendering process for Ayrshire and Arran urology contract, each trust agreed to allow the other trust sight of its bid under the original tendering exercise.