SEL ICB (Bromley) Community Phlebotomy

Currently, the Community Phlebotomy Service delivers phlebotomy at 10 locations across Bromley. Two of these are big-size venues, including the Orpington Health and Wellbeing Centre. The remaining eight sites are based within individual GP practices throughout the borough.

In 2024/25, the service facilitated over 100,000 blood tests, demonstrating its critical role in supporting diagnostics and improving access to care within the community.

Under this contract, the provider will be expected to deliver a between 120,000 -132,000 blood tests annually. The contract will be on a cost and volume basis with a per-unit price (per bleed) of £7.39.

The contract period for the service will be two years with the option to extend for a further one year.

The process being followed is a Most Suitable Provider Process under the Provider Selection Regime 2023.

We are not required to actively invite anyone to express interest but rather seek to notify the market of the intention.

For enquiries or to register interest, please contact [email protected] AND [email protected] using reference number PRJ-2138.

The commissioner is seeking to achieve, via this procurement, a service and provider that is committed to supporting the development of neighbourhood models of healthcare.

The 10-Year Health Plan mandates neighbourhood models of healthcare and these are currently being developed across England. In Bromley, by 2026, the borough will have in place four neighbourhoods each with a new integrated neighbourhood team.

The new model for this service is to operate under a hub and spokes model in each neighbourhood to ensure equitable access and efficient resource utilisation while maximising accessibility for patients.

Hubs are high-capacity sites designed to offer designed to offer consistent, easily accessible appointments for a large volume of patients.

Spokes are smaller, community-based clinics that provide convenient, localised access to phlebotomy services, helping to reach patients closer to where they live.

The hubs and spokes will operate in an integrated and collaborative approach ensuring that patients receive a seamless experience regardless of the site they attend, and that resources are used efficiently across the system.

Each neighbourhood will have at least one hub at a designated central location as the main service delivery point with satellite clinics as spokes providing localised access to blood testing.

The provider is expected to undertake an assessment based on factors to determine an appropriate number of spokes clinics in each neighbourhood with an agreement with the NHS Southeast London ICB. During the course of the contract, the provider will be expected to potentially change locations or delivery model as needed to align with the neighbourhood development programme.

The functions of the hubs and spokes are as follows -

Hub sites:

• Highly accessible and central locations one in each neighbourhood. Provider will utilise existing the Health and Wellbeing Centres venue in two neighbourhoods.
• Equipped to support higher patient volumes.
• Have provision for service bookable appointments on all weekdays, walk-in sessions and same day urgent phlebotomy with ability to provide service out-of-hours and on weekends.
• Have ability to expand capacity in time of high demand (Winter).

Spoke sites:

• Satellite locations (e.g. GP practices or community venues) providing good coverage of neighbourhood geography across the borough to ensure equitable access.
• Particularly aimed to providing access closer to patients, patients with mobility issues, targeting underserved areas.
• The number of locations will be determined through an assessment based on factors such as access, coverage, equitable provision across neighbourhoods, health inequalities, stable activity and operational feasibility and clinical suitability of the locations.

The Community Phlebotomy service is available to all people aged 13 years and above who are registered with a Bromley GP practice. It will offer patients bookable appointments, walk-in sessions, and on the same day urgent appointments*.

• Urgent blood tests - Referrer or clinician who in their clinical judgement require same day appointment for the patient. Not suitable for patients who are acutely unwell or clinically unstable requiring secondary care referral. The phlebotomy service would have ring fenced capacity in each day's planning for urgent blood testing.

Care Pathway:

• The requesting practice provides the patients with information to book the blood tests.
• The patient can access the appointment online. There should be a provision for the patient to cancel and rebook the appointment.
• The patient attends the appointment. The phlebotomist accepts the patients with relevant request form.
• The phlebotomist stores sample appropriately.
• The pathology provider is responsible for collecting the specimens, analysing the sample and communicating the results to the referrer practice or to agreed generic email inbox.
• The requesting practice has a system in place for receiving the results. It is the responsibility of the referrer or practices to act upon the results and contact the patients accordingly. Additional information: Referral Pathway:

All patients requiring diagnostics will be referred by GPs, nurses, and other healthcare professionals using electronic order communications system. Currently this is facilitated by tQuest. Provider will be expected to work with Pathology services and system partners in the transition from tQuest to a new order communication system scheduled for October 2026.

• The electronic referral is sent to the pathology provider.
• Patients receive a blood test form from their practice.
• The form has a unique barcode with the details of the patient and the test requested.
• The patients contact the phlebotomy service to arrange the appointment.
• Patients bring the form to the phlebotomy appo…