FOI 2025/1281

The information that we are requesting below, is for the administrative areas previously known as CCGs that now fall under ICBs.

I am writing under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request disclosure of the following information relating to the procurement of Adult Audiology Services for every CCG under the ICB:

1. Procurement Process:A detailed description of the process by which audiology services are procured by your organisation.

2. Contract Details:

1. The length of the current contract for adult audiology services, including any extension periods that may apply.
2. The expiry date of the current contract, inclusive of the longstop extension date.
3. The date designated for the next review of adult audiology services.

3. Service Providers: The names of the current providers of adult audiology services.

4. Contract Value:The estimated full-term value of the contract, including any provisions for the longstop extension period.

5. Service development: Is the ICB currently in the process of reviewing local NHS audiology provisions or intending to review local NHS audiology provision within the next 12 months.

1. NHS Greater Manchester (NHS GM) was formed on the 1 July 2022 following the merger of the 10 former Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) of Greater Manchester (being NHS Bolton CCG, NHS Bury CCG, NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale CCG, NHS Manchester CCG, NHS Oldham CCG, NHS Salford CCG, NHS Stockport CCG, NHS Tameside and Glossop CCG, NHS Trafford CCG and NHS Wigan Borough CCG), plus Greater Manchester Shared Services (GMSS, previously hosted by the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust) and Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership.

CCGs in Greater Manchester procured a GM service in 2021 for direct access adult hearing services under an AQP arrangement – the link to contract finder can be found here.

https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/efd89d7e-0d87-47f1-b876-adf799a354e6

This covered 8/10 CCGs in Greater Manchester as listed on contract finder.

Wigan Borough CCG conducted a separate procurement for adult hearing services. This resulted in three-year contracts, effective from October 1, 2021, to September 30, 2024, with Specsavers, Scrivens, and Wrightington, Wigan & Leigh NHS Foundation Trust Community Division. These contracts included a two-year extension period, which will conclude on September 30, 2026.

Bolton CCG undertook a separate procurement for adult hearing services with the intention to commission a minimum of 3 providers. This resulted in three-year contracts, effective from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2025, with Specsavers, Scrivens, and Bolton NHS Foundation Trust. These contracts included a two-year extension period, which will conclude on 31 March 2027.

2.a Please find below a link to the NHS Greater Manchester Healthcare Services Contract Register February 2025, available on the NHS GM website (under lists and registers).  Please search “Adult Hearing” to identify relevant contracts.

Publication scheme | Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership

2.b. The expiry date of the current contract, inclusive of the longstop extension date can be found in above register

2.c. NHS GM will review adult hearing services in 2025/26 to inform commissioning intentions / future procurement, recognising the end date of September 2026 for our existing direct access contracts.

3. The names of the current providers of adult audiology services can be found in above register
4. It is not possible for NHS GM to estimate the “full term value” of the requested contracts. This is because the contracts themselves contain no estimated values, or an Indicative Activity Plan or similar, as the activity is paid on a cost per case basis. Therefore, the value of the contract itself is considered to be £nil.

Details of the amount spent with each of the providers under these contracts is available from the spending reports, published at NHS Greater Manchester Reports | Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership. These detail the sum of monthly expenditure with providers where the total spend was more than £25k within a particular month. Equivalent reports for the predecessor CCGs are published on the archived versions of the former CCG websites, which are available through the National Archives at Browse our A-Z list of archived websites and social media channels – UK Government Web Archive.

(Note, the ten former NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups which merged to form NHS Greater Manchester ICB on 1^st July 2022 were NHS Bolton CCG, NHS Bury CCG, NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale CCG, NHS Manchester CCG, NHS Oldham CCG, NHS Salford CCG, NHS Stockport CCG, NHS Tameside and Glossop CCG, NHS Trafford CCG and NHS Wigan Borough CCG. However, it should be noted that commissioning responsibility for patients registered with a Glossop based GP did not transfer to NHS GM, and instead transferred to NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB).

5. Yes