The health service has revealed its intention to put in place a framework to help those providing patient advice on the high street with a greater range of tech services
NHS England has revealed plans to offer community pharmacies around the country with a greater range of options for digital healthcare services.
In a newly published commercial notice, the national body has reveals that it is “seeking to expand the number of suppliers in the market and their capability to deliver digital clinical services within the community pharmacy (CP) marketplace”.
Community pharmacies are empowered to provide patients with medical advice and treatment for common ailments, as well as conducting reviews of medications taken.
To provide these facilities with better technology services, NHS England wishes to create a £20m framework, to come into effect at the start of next year and run until March 2029.
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Ahead of doing so, the organisation is to run a “market-engagement process will seek to establish the extent of interest within the wider marketplace”. This process will run for a period of seven weeks, commencing on a 1 September – and commencing in earnest with a webinar on 11 September.
“NHSE intends to identify the extent of market interest and the readiness of interested parties to deliver against the published Capability Standards for CP IT Services,” the notice says.
Firms wishing to take part in the exercise can register interest using an online “procurement portal to engage, ask questions and provide feedback throughout the market-engagement period”.
Prospective providers are advised that the coming weeks “will kick-off the procurement process that NHSE intends to operate, [which] will result in qualified parties being included on the digital buyer’s catalogue and awarded a framework contract”.
