Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons the contract for PET-CT scanning in Oxfordshire was awarded to InHealth and not Oxford University Hospitals Trust.

In 2017/18 a formal procurement process was undertaken by NHS England for approximately half of the PET/CT scanning services in England including the service provided to the population of the Thames Valley area. The evaluation criteria included clinical/service quality, patient access and cost. The preferred bidder InHealth submitted a bid which satisfied all the necessary criteria and achieved the highest score.

Patient access, quality and cost were included in the evaluation criteria. There are discussions currently in progress with both InHealth and Oxford University Hospitals about mobilising the new service. There are also discussions with the hospitals in Milton Keynes and Swindon about the start-up of their new services.