---
title: "Medicine Optimisation for Public Health Services"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-06e26b"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06e26b"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e26b.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e26b.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Planning"
buyer: "South Tyneside Borough Council"
published: "2026-08-12"
---

# Medicine Optimisation for Public Health Services

Buyer: South Tyneside Borough Council  
Current stage: Planning  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-06e26b

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## Summary

South Tyneside Borough Council is exploring a regional medicine optimisation service with Newcastle City Council, Gateshead Council, North Tyneside Council, Northumberland County Council and Darlington Borough Council. The service is a public health and health services contract covering five core areas: leadership for Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments; strategic development of community pharmacy; specialist support for commissioners; engagement with community pharmacies; and public health intelligence and insight. The arrangement is intended to support the participating councils in planning and commissioning effective medicine-related public health services. South Tyneside Council is the lead buyer. The work will involve collaboration across the participating council areas and engagement with community pharmacy networks and public health stakeholders.

This procurement is at the planning stage: the councils are testing the market before deciding how to proceed, and no invitation to tender has been issued. They expect the service to run from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2032, subject to the eventual procurement process. A soft market testing questionnaire is intended to assess supplier interest and suitability; responses are expected by 4 September 2026. The planned arrangement is a light-touch public services procurement, covering one service lot. The lot is identified as suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises. The service is classified as health services and will be developed around the five core functions described by the councils.

This will suit organisations with practical experience in medicines optimisation, public health commissioning and community pharmacy systems. Relevant capability is likely to include leading or delivering Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments, developing strategic relationships with community pharmacies, advising commissioners, and providing robust public health intelligence and insight. Suppliers should be able to engage effectively with councils, pharmacies and wider health stakeholders across several local authority areas, and to turn analysis into service planning and commissioning advice. The requirement may suit specialist consultancies, public health service providers, pharmacy-sector organisations, or partnerships combining these skills. Small and medium-sized enterprises are expressly considered suitable, so a capable specialist may be well placed to prepare for the future competition, including by contributing informed responses to the market-testing exercise.

## Notice

South Tyneside Council is working with Newcastle City Council, Gateshead Council, North Tyneside Council, Northumberland Council and Darlington Borough Council to explore options for the delivery of a medicine optimisation for public health service. The core functions will be: 1. Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) Leadership. 2. Strategic Community Pharmacy Development. 3. Provide specialist support to commissioners. 4. Community Pharmacy Engagement 5. Public Health Intelligence and Insight.

### Planning Information

South Tyneside Council and its partners are inviting suppliers to partake in a soft market testing exercise to ascertain market interest and suitability in delivering this service. The soft market testing questionnaire can be downloaded from the Open E-Procurement System free of charge https://open-uk.org/opportunities/overview/public/8f4f7c3e-5f9d-45dd-ad59-e6e95f7a6b5d, Project #OPEN20261740

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/076670-2026 |
| Notice type | UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Not Specified |
| Procurement method details | Not specified |
| Tender suitability | SME |
| Awardee scale | Not specified |
| All stages | Planning |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 12 Aug 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | 4 Sep 2026 |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 1 Apr 2027 - 31 Mar 2032 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Planning |
| Lots status | Planning |
| Awards status | Not specified |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | South Tyneside Borough Council |
| Locality | SOUTH SHIELDS |
| Postcode area | Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Postcode | NE33 2RL |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLC North East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLC4 Northumberland, Durham and Tyne & Wear |
| ITL 3 | TLC43 Tyneside |
| Local authority | South Tyneside |
| Electoral ward | Beacon and Bents |
| Westminster constituency | South Shields |
| Delivery location | TLC22 Tyneside |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 85 - Health and social work services

### Codes

- 85100000 - Health services

## Release History

- 12 Aug 2026 at 11:52 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/076670-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/076670-2026
  12th August 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://open-uk.org/opportunities/overview/public/8f4f7c3e-5f9d-45dd-ad59-e6e95f7a6b5d
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents

## 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-06e26b. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e26b.json.