Decontamination Services and Solutions (Surgical Instrumentation)

In November 2023, there were 6.5 million individual patients on the waiting list for treatment – in addition to the total number of appointments and treatments currently on the waiting list – 7.77 million. To increase capacity and ease the pressure on elective surgery, the building and roll-out of surgical hubs is being scaled up across the country. 

In these environments, surgical and clinical teams are reliant on the quick and efficient turnaround of reprocessed and sterilised instruments to operate and undertake procedures, work through the backlog, and reduce further pressure on clinical services. 

The Decontamination Services and Solutions Framework Agreement offers end-to-end decontamination solutions, ensuring the effective decontamination of surgical instruments and equipment, which is essential for patient safety and to avoid delays and inefficiencies in hospital operating theatres.  

The framework agreement supports best practice, compliance, and drives sustainability and cost-effectiveness. It offers complete outsourcing of decontamination services, the ability for extra capacity to be provided either in an emergency or for the long term, or the option to augment a customer’s own facilities. There is also a specialist lot for the decontamination of high-level probes. 

The Decontamination Services and Solutions Framework Agreement forms part of a wider solution that focusses on, ‘future-proofing estates and infrastructure’, helping to achieve NHSE estates and infrastructure targets.

What dates is the framework agreement active?
10 March 2023 – 9 March 2027

Who can take advantage of the framework agreement?
NHS and Public Sector Organisations

What does this framework agreement cover?
The health category team has developed a Decontamination Services and Solutions Framework Agreement to help NHS Trusts demands for decontamination services. It covers the provision of outsourced decontamination and sterilisation of surgical instruments which can either be on site or off site and involves the cleaning, reprocessing, repair, and sterilisation of surgical instruments to support surgery and other activities. It also includes the provision of equipment for the reprocessing of High-Level Disinfection of Probes.

The framework agreement has been structured in the following lots:

• Lot 1 – Managed Decontamination Service
• Lot 2 – Contingency Decontamination Services
• Lot 3 – Repair and Replacement of Surgical Instruments
• Lot 4 – Equipment for the reprocessing of High-Level Disinfection of Probes

What are the benefits of using this framework agreement?
FIRST TO MARKET
For a fully managed decontamination service solution.

CLINICALLY DRIVEN & FOCUSED
Developed with clinical experts.

APPROVED LIST OF PROVIDERS
Who have been evaluated on quality and price.

STANDARD NHS TERMS & CONDITIONS

COMPLIANCE WITH PCR 2015

COST AND EFFICIENCY SAVINGS
Users can run a further competition or direct award.

SUSTAINABILITY FOCUSED
Sustainability is at the heart of the supplier offerings.

ON AND OFF-SITE SOLUTIONS
The framework agreement offers both on-site and off-site solutions.

ALIGNED WITH NATIONAL STANDARDS

Customer Framework Agreement Portal

Our Customer Framework Agreement Portal allows our customers to:

• Browse our range of framework agreements, with instant access to all associated documents.
• Search by keyword to easily find the information you’re looking for.
• Access support from our team of experts, who can advise on further competitions and answer any questions you might have.