CCGs told to delay signing £1.2bn deal on cancer and end of life services

A landmark £1.2bn (€1.6bn; $1.8bn) overhaul of services in Staffordshire for patients with cancer and for people at the end of life, dubbed by critics as “the biggest NHS privatisation yet,” has been put on hold until an inquiry into the collapse of a contract for older people’s care in Cambridgeshire has concluded.

The procurement of two contracts worth £700m for cancer care and £500m for end of life care in Staffordshire has proved controversial because of the sums of money involved and because it could lead to private firms directly running specialist services.1

The four clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) managing the procurement subsequently revealed that NHS and …