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Case Law Update: abandoning a procurement fails to dispose of challenge

The recent judgment in the case of Amey Highways Limited and West Sussex County Council [2019] EWHC 1291 (TCC) deals in detail with the implications of abandonment and the effect of an abandonment decision on an existing claim. The Council had undertaken a competitive dialogue process to select a provider of highways maintenance services. Amey were unsuccessful in that competition by a difference in score of 0.03% against the winning bidder, Ringway.

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Have the lessons from Lancashire Care NHS FT & Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS FT v Lancashire County Council been l...

Have the lessons from Lancashire Care NHS FT & Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS FT v Lancashire County Council been learnt? It is nearly a year since the case of Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust and Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v Lancashire County Council was determined.  Hempsons advised the two foundation trusts in successfully challenging the Council’s process, which had been run under the Light Touch Regime. 

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Hempsons’ Healthcare Newsbrief 2018

Welcome to this autumn edition of Hempsons’ Healthcare Newsbrief. It has been a busy few months for the NHS in the legal system with some ground-breaking decisions on key areas such as withdrawing clinically-assisted nutrition and hydration, fitness to practice and procurement.

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Inadequate record keeping invalidates contract award

Hempsons recently acted on behalf of Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust and Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (the “Trusts”) in successfully challenging Lancashire County Council (the “Council”) in relation to a procurement challenge for the provision of 0 – 19 services.

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Newsflash: Automatic suspension maintained – first automatic suspension case post NDA

Hempsons acted on behalf of Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust and Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (the “Trusts”) in resisting an application made by Lancashire County Council (the “Council”) to lift the automatic suspension in a procurement challenge. As a result of the claim issued by the Trusts at the end of last year, the Council were automatically suspended from signing the contract with Virgin Care Services Limited (“Virgin”). The Council made an application to lift the automatic suspension. The lifting application was heard on 25 January 2018, and the Court’s judgment has now been handed down.

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Efficiency initiatives: key issues to consider

NHS organisations continue to search for ways to improve efficiency and ultimately to save money. The Carter Review provided potential methodologies, and opportunities for savings, and Trusts are implementing various strategies. NHS Improvement has also recently pushed for consolidation in the provision of pathology services with its proposals for new networks of laboratories.

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January 2018 – Procurement threshold limits to increase

The European Commission announced revised threshold limits for public procurements on 19th December 2017, together with the official rates for converting these limits into pounds sterling. These revised limits will apply from 1 January 2018 to all contract opportunities arising on or after that date.

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