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National Emergency Laparotomy Audit

HEALTHCARE QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PARTNERSHIP

This public procurement record has 2 releases in its history.

PlanningUpdate

14 Sep 2026 at 14:25

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Planning

11 Sep 2026 at 10:34

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Summary of the contracting process

Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) intends to commission the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit, a national clinical audit service for NHS-funded care in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Jersey, with possible expansion to other devolved nations and Crown Dependencies. The service will measure and report variation in the organisation, delivery and outcomes of emergency laparotomy care, including care for patients who do not undergo surgery. It will provide comparative data, benchmarking, reports, dashboards, tools and support for healthcare improvement. The successful provider will work with clinicians, patients, carers, commissioners, regional networks and other stakeholders, and support providers to improve outcomes, reduce unwarranted variation and align measures with NICE and other professional and patient standards. Delivery is across the United Kingdom, initially covering the stated NHS-funded services.

This procurement is at the planning stage; HQIP has stated an intention to use an open tender, but there is no invitation to tender yet. A pre-market engagement session is planned for 9 October 2026, with registration requested by 7 October 2026. HQIP currently expects to publish the tender in January 2027, evaluate bids in February and March 2027, make an award in May 2027 and start the contract on 1 December 2027; these dates may change. The initial contract is expected to run for three years, from 1 December 2027 to 30 November 2030, with a possible extension to 30 November 2032. The maximum initial budget is £951,168 excluding VAT (£1,141,401 including VAT); the estimated two-year extension value is £634,112 excluding VAT. There is one planned lot.

This will suit organisations experienced in delivering national healthcare audits, clinical quality improvement programmes or comparable health-data services. Relevant strengths include robust audit methodology, statistical analysis, data quality management, provider benchmarking and production of timely reports, interactive dashboards and other accessible outputs. Suppliers should be able to support near-real-time data refresh, reduce manual collection through routine-data use and data linkage, and report at provider, system and clinical-team levels. The work will require effective programme and project management, engagement with clinicians, patients, carers, commissioners, regulators, professional bodies and regional networks, and meaningful patient and public involvement. Strong knowledge of emergency laparotomy care, NICE-aligned quality standards, inequalities, outcomes measurement and improvement planning would position a provider well. The planned market engagement offers an opportunity to shape the eventual scope before tendering.

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Notice Information

Notice Title

National Emergency Laparotomy Audit

Notice Description

The National Emergency Laparotomy Audit (NELA) will be for NHS-funded care in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Jersey (inclusion of other devolved nations/Crown dependencies is yet to be determined and will be detailed within the tender documentation). The initial contract is anticipated to be for a period of 3 years, at a maximum total budget of up to PS 951,168.00 excl VAT and PS1,141,401.00 with VAT. Bids exceeding this limit will be rejected. Due to the unknowns in advance of holding the premarket engagement session, it is currently expected that the extension value will be a 2-year pro rata of the core 3-year funding, estimated at PS634,112.00 excluding VAT. There is potential to include other Devolved Nations and/or Crown Dependencies, and aspirational measures (which will be defined in the service specification). The role of a national clinical audit is to stimulate healthcare improvement through the provision of timely and high-quality information on the organisation, delivery and outcomes of healthcare, together with tools and support to enable healthcare providers and other audiences to make best use of this information. Outcomes are benchmarked against national guidance and standards e.g. quality standards from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), and those from other established professional and patient sources. Successful national audits are those where the individuals providing the data can also improve the system, and there is a shared understanding of what good care looks like. The National Emergency Laparotomy Audit (NELA) was established in 2011 and has been delivered by the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) - https://www.nela.org.uk/ The overarching aim of this audit is to stimulate improvements in care for patients undergoing and not undergoing emergency laparotomy through the provision of high-quality comparative data from all providers of emergency laparotomy by measuring and reporting variations in quality of care and patient outcomes. During this contract period, the successful tenderer will need to build on the achievements of the audit to date and enhance the ability for the audit to be used for healthcare improvement by engaging with clinicians, patients and commissioners (both local and national) and regional networks. Successful national audits are those where the individuals providing the data are also in a position to improve the system, and where there is a shared understanding of what good care looks like. Data is most useful locally for healthcare improvement when its provision to clinical teams is timely, the data is refreshed regularly, and appropriate tools, support and guidance accompany the data outputs. The intent is for all of these features to be implemented and improved during the period of this future contract. Develop a robust, high-quality audit designed around key quality metrics likely to best support local and national quality improvement Detect, describe and help reduce unwarranted clinical variation by systematically benchmarking performance, identifying outliers, and supporting services to understand variation in outcomes, processes and experience Achieve, articulate and maintain close alignment with relevant NICE national guidance and quality standards throughout the audit, as appropriate Enable healthcare quality improvements through the provision of timely, high-quality data that compares providers of healthcare, and comprises an integrated mixture of named Trust or Health Board, Integrated Care System (ICS), multi-disciplinary team, possibly consultant or clinical team level and other levels of reporting Engage patients, carers and the public in a meaningful way, achieving a strong patient voice which informs and contributes to the design, functioning, outputs and direction of the audit Consider the value and feasibility of linking data at an individual patient level to other relevant national datasets either from the outset or in the future, and plan for these linkages from the inception of the contract Ensure robust methodological and statistical input at all stages of the audit Identify from the outset the full range of audiences for the reports and other audit outputs, and plan and tailor them accordingly. By way of example, the current contract specification includes the following anticipated benefits of the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit: National benchmarking to highlight unwarranted variation between providers Sustained reduction in 30-day mortality and postoperative complications through systematic performance monitoring against national standards Reduced length of hospital stay, supporting faster recovery and improved patient flow Increased delivery of time-critical interventions (e.g. antibiotics for sepsis, timely access to theatre), improving survival and outcomes Enhanced care for high-risk and frail patients, including improved peri-operative specialist input Shift from retrospective reporting to near real-time data and interactive dashboards Improved insight for regulators, commissioners and systems (ICSs) through consistent performance data Systematic identification and management of outliers and 'cause for concern', enabling early intervention Standardised performance metrics aligned with NICE and other national guidance Provide audit results in a timely, accessible and meaningful manner to support healthcare quality improvement, minimising the reporting delay and providing continual access to each unit for their own data Utilise strong and effective project and programme management to deliver audit outputs on time and within budget Develop and maintain strong engagement with local clinicians, networks, commissioners, patients and their families and carers and charity and community support groups to drive improvements in services Embedded healthcare improvement plans with measurable objectives and ongoing impact evaluation Support for coordinated improvement across the entire emergency laparotomy pathway Increased use of routine data and data linkage to reduce manual data collection burden Improved data completeness, quality and efficiency, supporting robust analysis and decision-making Systematic assessment of inequalities in access, care and outcomes Support for national and local priorities to reduce inequalities and promote parity of care Active involvement of patients, carers and the public in audit design, outputs and improvement priorities Flexibility to expand scope (e.g. non-operative pathways, wider geographies including devolved nations and Crown Dependencies) Designed to evolve with emerging evidence and service models Further details of the existing audit can be found at: https://www.nela.org.uk/

Planning Information

Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) is seeking to engage with the market on the commissioning of the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit. HQIP will be looking to hold a pre-market engagement session with potential suppliers on Friday 9th October from 10.30am - 12.25pm Also in attendance will be system partners and service specialists including charities, professional bodies and other relevant stakeholders. The aim of the premarket engagement session is for interested parties to hear and contribute to discussions with system experts and patient groups that will feed into HQIP’s final decisions on the scope of the project over the 3-5 years of the programme. At this point, the Authority is planning to run this procurement under an open tender process. The proposed dates (subject to change solely at the Authorities discretion) are as follows: 9th October 2026 - Pre Market Engagement Session Publication of tender opportunity – January 2027 Evaluation of submitted bids –February / March 2027 Award – May 2027 Contract start - 1st December 2027 If you would like to join this premarket engagement event, please complete the following Microsoft form by close of business Friday 2nd October 2026. 14/09/26 - AMENDMENT TO REGISTRATION LINK https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforms.cloud.microsoft%2Fe%2FzNr5wNXf0L&data=05%7C02%7Cjudith.hughes%40hqip.org.uk%7C7d5cdb0fe62b4b0497c108df123cbca5%7C1b106716e5cc4a968d077a0ab38f6eab%7C0%7C0%7C639249724220875991%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=sje2QmOvLhe%2Bhs3yt8%2BeuogS%2B2N1l21pT7VLvgL%2BPUQ%3D&reserved=0

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-06f7b8
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/086916-2026
Current Stage
Planning
All Stages
Planning

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Not Specified
Procurement Method Details
Not specified
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

85 - Health and social work services

CPV Codes

85100000 - Health services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£951,168 £500K-£1M
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
14 Sep 2026Yesterday
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
1 Dec 2027 - 30 Nov 2030 3-4 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Planning
Lots Status
Planning
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
HEALTHCARE QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PARTNERSHIP
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
LONDON
Postcode
EC2V 6DL
Postcode Area
Central London
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLI London
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLI3 Inner London - West
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLI35 Westminster and City of London
Delivery Location
Not specified
Local Authority
City of London
Electoral Ward
Cheap
Westminster Constituency
Cities of London and Westminster

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

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The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts.

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