---
title: "On Demand Availability of Drugs for Palliative Care"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-065b68"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-065b68"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-065b68.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-065b68.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "NHS SURREY HEARTLANDS INTEGRATED CARE BOARD"
published: "2026-05-20"
---

# On Demand Availability of Drugs for Palliative Care

Buyer: NHS SURREY HEARTLANDS INTEGRATED CARE BOARD  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-065b68

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## Summary

The NHS Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care Board has awarded a contract for the provision of On Demand Availability of Drugs for Palliative Care services, aiming to ensure immediate and consistent access to essential palliative care medication across Surrey. This service falls under the pharmacy services industry category and will be operational from 1st April 2026 to 31st March 2028. The procurement process was conducted under the Provider Selection Regime Regulations 2023 with a direct award, outside the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Formal award confirmation was granted by various NHS committees in February 2026, with NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit managing the procurement on behalf of the Commissioners. The awarded contract, valued at £2,244, is located in Woking, United Kingdom, and represents a strategic effort to improve access to emergency palliative care medications and reduce health inequalities.

This contracting opportunity presents significant potential for business growth, especially for pharmacies equipped to provide reliable and swift access to critical drugs within defined locations like Surrey. Pharmacies involved in this service not only contribute to enhancing patient care and integration into community healthcare pathways but also benefit from increased service demand and collaboration with community healthcare teams. As a result, businesses with experience in pharmacy services, particularly those skilled in palliative care, stock management, and emergency responsiveness, are ideally positioned to thrive within this framework. Additionally, this procurement supports local employment and skill enhancement, therefore appealing to SMEs and local providers interested in contributing to meaningful patient care and community-based services.

## Notice

The aim of the service is to provide immediate and consistent access to palliative care medication across NHS Surrey Heartlands (and wider, work has been done collaboratively across Surrey) with the ultimate aim of providing the best level of End-of-Life care and reducing inappropriate admissions in the last weeks of a patient's life. To improve access for people to these specialist medicines when they are required by ensuring prompt access and continuity of supply. To support users, carers and clinicians by providing them with up-to-date information and advice, and referral where appropriate.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

The purpose of this service is to support patients to live and die in their place of choice and to reduce inappropriate admissions in the last weeks of their life, a locally commissioned service (LCS) has been developed for the on-demand availability of palliative care drugs through a number of selected pharmacy contractors in the area. This service supplies specialist medicines for palliative care, the demand for which may be urgent and/or unpredictable via several pharmacy contractors. The pharmacy contractor will stock a locally agreed range of specialist medicines and will make a commitment to ensure that users of this service have prompt access to these medicines during their hours of opening. These drugs have been agreed by the service providers and are considered to cover most "urgent" requests. The pharmacy will provide information and advice to the user, carer and clinician in line with locally agreed palliative care guidelines. They may also refer to specialist centres, support groups or other health and social care professionals where appropriate. The palliative care drugs list and details of pharmacies will be circulated to all primary care prescribers, including the out of hours service, District Nurses, Palliative Care Nurses, Community Pharmacies, Hospital Pharmacists and Palliative Care Consultants so that all the appropriate health care professional are aware of what is reasonable to expect to be available. "Palliative care" pharmacies will be used mainly in an emergency situation, where the drugs cannot be obtained by the local Community Pharmacy within an appropriate timescale. The Commissioner intends to award a contract to an existing provider following direct award process C. The contract duration is 24-months, from 01/04/2026 - 31/03/2028. The lifetime value of the contract is PS2,244.00. This procurement has been carried out by NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit (SCW) on behalf of the Commissioners.

### Procurement Information

This is a Provider Selection Regime (PSR) intention to award notice. The awarding of this contract is subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and the Procurement Act 2023 do not apply to this award. The standstill period begins on the day after the publication of this notice. Representations by providers must be made to the relevant authority by midnight on 09/03/2026. This contract has not yet formally been awarded; this notice serves as an intention to award under the PSR. Any written representations should be sent to robert.kitt1@nhs.net

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/046016-2026 |
| Notice type | Tender Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 20 May 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 4 Feb 2026 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £2,244 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Cancelled |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | NHS SURREY HEARTLANDS INTEGRATED CARE BOARD |
| Locality | WOKING |
| Post town | Guildford |
| Postcode | GU21 5BH |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLJ South East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLJ2 Surrey, East and West Sussex |
| ITL 3 | TLJ25 West Surrey |
| Local authority | Woking |
| Electoral ward | Canalside |
| Westminster constituency | Woking |
| Delivery location | TLJ2 Surrey, East and West Sussex |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | HORLEY LATE-NIGHT PHARMACY |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 85 - Health and social work services

### Codes

- 85149000 - Pharmacy services

## Release History

- 20 May 2026 at 07:48 - TenderUpdate - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/046016-2026
- 24 Feb 2026 at 16:07 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/016613-2026

## Notice URLs

- https://www.surreyheartlands.org/nhs-surrey-heartlands-board

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-065b68. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-065b68.json.