Recent changes under the Health and Social Care Bill place increasing importance on the ‘Any Willing Provider’ model and greater competition between providers. In light of these changes, EU competition and public procurement rules are becoming ever more important to NHS organisations.
In addition, the NHS has been mandated to make significant cost savings, and effective public procurement has been identified as a key means of achieving this. The European Commission’s Green Paper consultation to investigate ways in which the current EU public procurement rules could be revised is therefore particularly timely and important.
The NHS European Office invites views from NHS procurement managers and commissioners on those aspects of the paper which most closely relate to their work. Given the length and complexity of this consultation, more general views and comments on the issue are also very much encouraged.