£215m contract awarded to transform NHS cancer screening services across England

NHS England has awarded a contract worth up to £215 million to modernise the technology behind some of the country’s biggest adult screening programmes.

Digital services company Netcompany has secured the contract to develop and operate a new national screening platform covering breast, cervical and bowel cancer screening, as well as abdominal aortic aneurysm and diabetic eye screening.

The programme is intended to replace ageing and fragmented technology currently used to manage screening services with a more integrated digital system.

Millions of people are invited for NHS screening every year, making the technology responsible for identifying eligible patients, issuing invitations, recording results and supporting follow-up an important part of preventative healthcare.

Under the new programme, the platform will help manage people through the screening pathway, from identifying who should be invited through to recording outcomes and ensuring appropriate next steps are taken.

The modernisation is also expected to improve the way information can be shared and used across screening services, reducing reliance on separate systems and making it easier for healthcare teams to track patients through the process.

The contract comes as the NHS continues efforts to increase participation in cancer screening and diagnose more cancers at an earlier stage, when treatment can often be more effective.

Breast, cervical and bowel screening programmes collectively reach millions of people across England, while diabetic eye and abdominal aortic aneurysm screening target people at particular risk of potentially serious conditions.

Netcompany will work with NHS England to introduce the new technology while existing screening programmes continue to operate.

The contract has a maximum value of £215 million over its lifetime and represents a significant investment in the digital infrastructure supporting preventative healthcare in England.

While patients may see changes to the way screening services communicate with them over time, much of the transformation will take place behind the scenes.

The significance of the project lies in the scale of the services it supports. Screening programmes depend not only on people being offered tests, but on the NHS accurately identifying who is eligible, ensuring invitations reach them and making sure abnormal results are followed up appropriately.

Modernising the technology behind that process could therefore have a direct impact on how effectively millions of people move through some of England’s most important screening programmes.

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