The selection process for a provider of primary care services for the Whitehawk surgery in East Brighton “was neither transparent nor fair”, according to the Independent Patient Choice and Procurement Panel (IPCPP).
The IPCPP, set up in 2024 to adjudicate disputes about commissioning NHS-funded healthcare services, has now told the Sussex Integrated Care Board (ICB) to re-run the procurement process for the primary care services contract.
In March 2025, Sussex NHS announced that One Medicare, a subsidiary of One Medical Group based in Leeds, had been awarded the seven year contract to run primary care services in Whitehawk, East Brighton, to begin 1 September 2025, with the option for a two year extension, worth around £10.4 million.
The incumbent providers Wellesbourne CIC, a not-for-profit organisation, referred the process to the IPCPP, raising concerns about the provider selection process and the way the ICB handled its request for information about the process.
The IPCPP identified several issues with the procurement process, including that Sussex ICB failed to provide bidders with adequate information, maintained insufficient records of its decisions, and incorrectly claimed that a losing bidder had not provided the required information.
Full article in The Lowdown, 31 July 2025