The Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023 came into force on 1 January 2024 meaning any procurement process for health care services started on or after 1 January 2024 will have to be done in compliance with the new Provider Selection Regime (PSR) regulations.
The PSR does not apply to the procurement of goods or non-health care services (unless as part of a mixed procurement), irrespective of whether these are procured by relevant authorities. The Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) codes to which the PSR applies may be found in Annex A of the statutory guidance.
The PSR Regulations replace the procurement of health care services when procured by relevant authorities under the PSR within the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. It also replaces the NHS (Procurement, Patient Choice, and Competition) No 2 Regulations 2013, which previously only applied to NHS England and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs).
All ‘relevant authorities’ are required to follow PSR when procuring relevant healthcare services. Relevant authorities are:
- NHS England
- Integrated Care Boards
- NHS trusts and foundation trusts
- Local authorities or combined authorities
NHS England has recently published guidance and training resources and is running a series of webinars to support attendees to familiarise themselves with the new regime. You can register for these and find more information on the NHS PSR Website.