Pathology Network Preliminary Market Engagement

Pathology is an essential clinical service, vital to the delivery of efficient and effective healthcare by preventing, diagnosing, treating and monitoring diseases to keep people as healthy as possible.

The Barking Havering and Redbridge University Trust (BHRUT) is conducting a Preliminary Market Engagement exercise for a Pathology Network. The purpose of which is to gauge interest in any future procurement of pathology services and obtain feedback from the market to help shape the service specification, the investment case and timetable and help identify delivery models.

With a dedicated workforce of more than 9,500 staff and volunteers and an income of £1.007bn, BHRUT is a large trust providing all the major specialties from two main hospital sites: King George Hospital (KGH) in Goodmayes and Queen’s Hospital (QH) in Romford and community services to a population of around 800,000.

The story of BHRUT over recent years has been one of improvement having exited the highest level of oversight (Level 4) under the NHS Oversight Framework in May 2024. Despite being one of the most improved trusts in London in terms of performance, BHRUT continues to struggle with financial sustainability due to high demand, staffing costs and the expense of implementing a new electronic patient record (EPR) system in 2025.

The Trust requires a future operating model for pathology that reflects the following principles:

A high quality, safe and effective pathology service that is responsive to the diversity and clinical needs of the patients it serves.

Delivery of a sustainable future pathology workforce by delivering operational excellence, a robust training and development pipeline and creating the conditions for a positive workplace culture.

Alignment with the trust’s strategic aims and corporate objectives.

Commitment to working as part of NEL ICS to address health inequalities at national and system levels.

Enablement of a strong digital infrastructure and capability. Adopting digital opportunity and technology advances to deliver more efficient and scalable pathology services.

A service that creates social value through its activities in terms of the wellbeing of individuals and communities, social capital created and the environment