Minor Hand Surgery

NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Procurement Unit are issuing this notice on behalf of NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board (ICB) who are seeking expressions of interest in providing the future provision of the Minor Hand Surgery Service as the current contract is due to expire at the end of March 2026. The notice has been issued subject to the Provider Selection Regime (PSR) regulations 2023 for the Procurement of Healthcare Services.

The Minor Hand Surgery Service has an annual budget value of £702,348 The aim of the service is to provide a community consultant-led and consultant-delivered service that treats people identified as meeting the acceptance criteria as set out in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB Excluded and Restricted Policy (ERP) for carpal tunnel release and trigger finger release surgery.

The service is for patients who are suitable to be treated under local anaesthetic. A further aim of this service is to provide follow-up activity within the service before final discharge back to the patient's own GP.

The service locations are to be within the geographical boundaries of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB to cover North Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, East and South East Staffordshire & Seisdon Peninsula (excluding Stafford and Surrounds and Cannock Chase), irrespective of the patients' postcode; within an indicative 15 miles of patients' homes, while considering key factors such as travel time, being easily accessible and conveniently located to public transport networks, having good road networks and accessible parking for patients' own transport. The service is to be flexible in its approach, offering at least one late evening and a Saturday or Sunday clinic appointment each week to provide choice to patients and will ensure that a safe level of service is available for patient consultations 52 weeks of the year.

The Minor Hand Surgery (MHS) Service has an annual contract value of £702,348. They will then receive a questionnaire to complete, which assesses their suitability based on standard criteria.

The completed questionnaire is reviewed by a Provider Accreditation Panel (PAP), formed based on relevant expertise. Phase 2 - Service Specification Providers indicate the services they wish to offer in the accreditation questionnaire.

If accredited, they must demonstrate how they will meet the relevant service specification, location requirements and fully mobilise the service by 1st April 2026. This response is assessed for compliance, providers will receive confirmation and proceed to contract setup.

Phase 3 - Contract Award Once accreditation and service specification assessments are successfully completed, and the provider is deemed suitable, a contract is awarded to deliver services on behalf of the ICB. There is no guarantee of business for any provider appointed.

The NHS Standard Contract will take precedent and shall be updated accordingly on an annual basis. This service is anticipated to be in place for a period of 1 years with the option to extend for up to a further 1 year period.

The service shall go live from 1st April 2026. Note providers appointed after this date will be provided a contract on a pro rata basis to align the overall contract period.

This is a service for which patients do not have a legal right to choice, but the authority is voluntarily offering patients a choice of providers. The number of providers is not restricted by the authority through provider selection. The deadline for responses to be considered in this first period of provider selection is Friday 14th November at 12:00pm.