FOI 2026/1636

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request information relating to all providers of diagnostic and planned care services that currently hold an active NHS contract with your Integrated Care Board.

Kindly provide the following information for each provider and each service they deliver on behalf of NHS Greater Manchester ICB:

Information Requested

1. Provider(s) Information

• Name of provider(s)

2. Service Information

• Type of service(s) provided
  (e.g., Diagnostic MRI, Ultrasound, Endoscopy, Dermatology, Physiotherapy, etc.)

3. Contract Details

• Contract term (start date and end date)
• Contract type (e.g., AQP, Block, Cost-per-case, etc.)

4. Activity Volumes

For the most recent full financial year (please specify which year the data relates to):

• Annual activity for each provider per service they deliver

5. Financial Information

• Annual spend with each provider for each service
• Tariff per activity (or payment structure if non-tariff)

6. Referrer Information

For each service, please provide the commissioned referrer types, such as:

• GP
• Consultant
• Nurse
• Extended Scope Practitioner
  (or any other referrer categories used by the ICB)

Format of Response

Please provide the data in an editable format, such as:

• Excel (.xlsx)
• CSV
• Or an equivalent machine‑readable format.

Notes

• If any information is withheld, please cite the applicable FOI exemption.
• If part of the request exceeds the cost limit, please provide advice and assistance on how it can be refined.

1.- 3.- The list of all NHS Greater Manchester (NHS GM) healthcare contracts can be found under our Publication Scheme on the NHS GM website. In line with Section 16, please find a link to the register below to assist you.

nhsgm-conreg-feb-25-final.pdf

4. Please see attached.

**An excel document was sent to the requester with this response.  If you require a copy of the full response, together with the attachments, please contact NHS GM’s FOI team – nhsgm.foi@nhs.net **

Diagnostic activity is available through the link below.

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/monthly-diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/monthly-diagnostics-data-2025-26/

5. NHS GM confirms that it holds the information you have requested, however, it is exempt from disclosure as it is already reasonably accessible to you.

Section 21(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 states:

“Information which is reasonably accessible to the applicant otherwise than under section 1 is exempt information.”

NHS GM publishes information in its monthly expenditure reports. These are published on the NHS GM website at NHS Greater Manchester Reports | Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership and cover expenditure with all suppliers greater than £25k that has been paid in an individual month. This information should be cross referenced with the particular provider from question 1 to determine the expenditure with that provider for the period in question.

This exemption is not subject to the public interest test.

NHS GM considers that the individual tariffs payable by providers is commercially sensitive and therefore exempt under section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act.

Section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 states:

“Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it)”.

Factors favouring disclosure.

There is an inherent public interest in ensuring that there is openness and transparency in the spending of public money. Transparency is likely to increase confidence in procurement processes and the purchasing decisions made by NHS GM. It also enables the public to understand whether NHS GM is getting value for money from its purchasing decisions.

Factors favouring non-disclosure.

However, we believe disclosure of this information would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of the providers and the negotiating capabilities of NHS GM, particularly in relation to future commissioning, negotiation and value-for-money considerations.

• If a competitor charges a higher price, it would be to NHS GM’s commercial detriment, as it would risk upward pressure on prices
• If a competitor charges a lower price, it would be to that provider’s detriment, as that might causes market prices to lower to reduce their market share (and therefore revenue).

Balancing Test.

After considering the arguments outlined above, we have decided to withhold this information.

While we recognise the importance of transparency in relation to NHS commissioning arrangements, this is met through the publication of the contract register and summary details rather than the disclosure of full contractual documents.

To support transparency, the following information is available on our contract register (which is available via the NHS GM publication scheme “lists and registers” on our website).

• The name of the provider
• The service area or specialty commissioned
• The contract start and end dates
• The Contract Value
• Confirmation that the contract is based on the NHS Standard Contract

In line with section 16 of the FOI Act please refer to the link to the register, which has been provided in the response to question 1-3 to assist you.

6. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), this section of your request is exempt by virtue of the following exemption, Section 12(1). Section 12. — (1) Section 12(1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.

NHS GM does hold information regarding referrer types; however, the request is so broad across all the commissioned services that, the cost of complying with your request would exceed the limit set by the Freedom of Information Act, and therefore, on this occasion it is with regret NHS GM are not able to process this section of your request further.

The Freedom of Information Act allows Public Authorities to decline to answer FOI requests when we estimate it would cost us more than £450 (equivalent to 18 hours, calculated at £25 per hour) to identify, locate, extract, and then provide the information that has been asked for.

Not all contracts provide this information and there are in excess of 400 healthcare contracts. It is estimated it would take 10 minutes per contract (although Acute hospital contracts it would take much longer which have multiple services) to search, locate and extract and provide the information requested.  On this basis, the exemption has been applied, because it would exceed the appropriate limit prescribed in the act.

Although we cannot answer your request, we might be able to answer a refined request within the cost limit. Therefore, you may wish to consider a general list of ways to be referred although there will be some that are not applicable – particularly those providers delivering individualised packages of care / domiciliary and/or home care.

Please be aware that we cannot guarantee at this stage that a refined request will fall within the cost limit, but NHS GM would do our upmost to assist you