Plans to award non-emergency patient transport services across the North West have collapsed for the second time in 20 months, after commissioners abandoned two of the three regional lots, it was reported on Tuesday. The contracts were valued at about £460m.
Non-emergency patient transport provides NHS-funded travel for people who need help to reach care and cannot use other means. The services in this procurement cover routine outpatient appointments and transport for hospital discharges and short-notice bookings. Earlier tender documents also included time-critical journeys for patients attending haemodialysis or oncology treatment. The work is commissioned on behalf of integrated care boards in Lancashire and South Cumbria, Greater Manchester, and Cheshire and Merseyside.
The first attempt began in September 2023, when Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB launched a process covering Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Merseyside and Cumbria. It was valued at £58.2m a year, or £465.5m over eight years, and divided into three lots. Bidders could apply for any or all of them. The notice said additional work on the specifications had been needed after a national review in May 2022 widened the eligibility criteria for NHS-funded transport.
That process was halted in late February 2025 after two legal challenges from companies that have not been named. By then the existing providers were being kept on through direct awards. The first covered 24 months from April 2023, because recommissioning had been delayed after the pandemic. A further 12-month arrangement followed, and the Greater Manchester board's contract for that year, running from April 2025 to March 2026, was worth £17.5m.
A second tender was published on 9 January 2026 by NHS Shared Business Services, acting as agent for the boards. It was run under the Provider Selection Regime, which governs how the NHS buys many health services. The estimated value was about £468m, and the area now included part of Derbyshire. Bids were due on 27 February 2026, and contracts were expected to start on 30 June 2026 for an initial five years, with an option to extend by three. The first lot covered Cheshire and Merseyside. The second covered Greater Manchester and Glossop.
It has not been confirmed which two lots have now been abandoned, or why. The published notices for the second round give no reasons. The only documented cause of the earlier failure is the pair of legal challenges in 2025. The position of the remaining lot has also not been confirmed.
The immediate question is what covers the lots without a contract. The last extension on record ran to March 2026, and new contracts were due to begin on 30 June. No notice reviewed shows what arrangements are in place for the services affected, or whether the existing providers have been kept on.
Two procurements in under three years have now failed to produce a long-term contract for a service that is run across several board areas and is worth more than £450m. Each attempt has taken months to prepare, and each has left the boards relying on short extensions to the previous arrangements. A revised timetable and lot structure were not available at the time of writing.
