Pathology: Greater London

(asked on 1st May 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department and NHS England have to consult with the public on (a) plans to merge pathology services in South East London hospitals into a single network and (b) plans to tender that contract to private companies.


Answered by
Stephen Hammond Portrait
Stephen Hammond
This question was answered on 8th May 2019

The South East London pathology network will reduce costs and boost quality of pathology service provision through collaboration and networking. This is part of a national strategy to network all National Health Service pathology services in England, due to the significant benefits identified in the 2016 Carter review.

Due to the significant benefits to quality and cost of service, all NHS trusts are expected to network as per the direction set out by NHS Improvement in September 2017. NHS Improvement has set out guidance that includes a range of acceptable operating models for networks, including enabling them to work with any qualified provider. It is for individual Trust boards to assess and select the model that best serves their patients and that organisation. Informing this decision, NHS organisations have policies to ensure consultation around change with the community that they serve. The decision about consultation in this instance will sit with the South East London hospitals involved. Neither the Department or NHS England have plans to consult on this specific network.

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