Written question asked by Lord Lansley (Conservative) on Tuesday, 1 February 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 7 February 2005. It was answered by Lord Hutton of Furness (Labour) on Monday, 7 February 2005 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to ensure that NHS providers have the maximum choice of suppliers of retinal screening; whether the list of accredited suppliers to the National Retinopathy Screening Programme will be updated via a tender process during 2004. - (Holding answer 4 February 2005).

Answer: Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps he (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to ensure that NHS providers have the maximum choice of suppliers of retinal screening; [214170] (2) whether the list of accredited suppliers to the National Retinopathy Screening Programme will be updated via a tender process during 2004. [214407] Mr. Hutton: [holding answer 4 February 2005]: National health service providers have a number of suppliers to choose from when selecting suppliers for their retinal screening programme. The NHS Purchasing and Supply agency are in discussions with staff from the National Retinopathy Screening Programme and the National Programme for information technology in order to decide on the benefits of undertaking a tender exercise for software for this programme in the light of the recent developments in this project.

Secondary information