Interim pathway to notify parents of a baby's Sickle Cell and other Haemoglobin carrier results identified under the NHS England Newborn bloodspot Screening (NBS) programme in Derbyshire [Urgent Award]

The contract is to deliver an interim pathway to notify parents of their babies Sickle Cell & other Haemoglobin carrier results identified during NBS screening programme in Derbyshire. NHS England - Midlands (East) are making an urgent award to the existing provider DHU Healthcare as described in regulation 14 of the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. Following an incident and audit, there was a clear recommendation for a clinical service to provide the Sickle Cell Carrier (SCC) results to babies born with a SCC. The responsibility for commissioning the clinical sickle cell carrier service sits with NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), due to the timeframes to implement and recruit to the new service commissioned by the ICB, NHS England - Midlands (East) have agreed to commission this service on an interim basis until the permanent pathway is in place in January 2025. This date is subject to successful recruitment of staff for the ICB service therefore this contract will be let until 31st March 2025 and terminated early when the substantive service is operational. This will ensure there is no gap in pathway provision. Failure to provide this service will further delay the sickle cell carrier status notification and other not suspected NBS results to parents of babies screened since 20th June 2024. It will create a health inequality as babies with other NBS results are notified in a shorter timeframe. Therefore this contract is being awarded to DHU Healthcare as they are the current provider for the sickle cell serious incident response. The lifetime value of this contract is £4,309. Services will be provided between 4th November 2024 and 31st March 2025.