The UK government’s 10-Year Health Plan for England marks a shift in how healthcare services will be designed, delivered, and commissioned.

At the heart of the plan is a clear message: the NHS will no longer tolerate fragmented, analogue, or reactive ways to establish a modern healthcare system.

In line with this, procurement will increasingly reward suppliers who deliver measurable outcomes, support financial sustainability, and help realise three system-wide shifts:

• From hospital to community.
• From analogue to digital.
• From sickness to prevention.

This reform is backed by over £29 billion in new funding and a revamped procurement model built around innovation partnerships, value-based contracts, and long-term supplier collaboration.

This report was written for public sector suppliers to help them navigate their success with the NHS over the next 10 years.

By the end of this report, you will have the tools to:

• Align your public sales strategy with NHS priorities.
• Identify procurement opportunities for suppliers to community care, digital delivery, and preventative health.
• Position your solutions around outcomes, efficiency, and transformation.

For more information on tracking live and upcoming NHS tenders, benchmarking your position against top suppliers, and spotting early signals from buyers, click here to sign up for a free Stotles account.

With 7.4 million people waiting for care, and with health inequality on the rise, NHS procurement is undergoing a significant revolution. Suppliers are now part of the core delivery model. Whether you offer technology, services, or data, NHS leaders are clear: they need help. 

There are three crisis areas reshaping NHS procurement:‍

1. System strain

Hospitals are over capacity and care is shifting into the community. Virtual wards and Neighbourhood Health Centres are expected to deliver 50% of urgent care by 2030. The NHS is also investing in AI and workforce tools to ease burnout.

‍Why it matters: High demand for solutions that reduce pressure on beds and staff, especially in community settings.

2. Outcome gaps

The NHS is prioritising prevention, tackling inequality, and rebuilding public trust. Genomics, behavioural tools, and equity-first commissioning are key, alongside the NHS App as a gateway to care.

‍Why it matters: Buyers want tools that improve access, enable early intervention, and strengthen patient engagement.

3. Digital catch-up

Legacy systems are being replaced by fully digital workflows. The NHS is targeting £200M in savings and scaling innovation with £600M in funding and 3% of budgets reserved for tech.‍

Why it matters: Scalable solutions that integrate well and deliver measurable impact are more likely to win.

This shift isn’t just about new services. Traditional models, such as “more budget means more staff,” are being replaced. 

NHS buyers now need to show measurable results from every pound spent. This is pushing procurement to focus on solutions that directly support national targets.

For FY 2024/25, Stotles analysed over 2,200 published notices that aligned with these themes, totalling £26.6 billion in awarded value. This data confirms that the NHS is already investing in the future it wants to build, and will continue to do so over the coming decade.

To identify and categorise this activity, we analysed published notices linked with NHS procurement across ICBs, NHS Trusts, GP Federations, and NHS England, using a custom set of over 40 keywords mapped to the three core shifts in the 10-Year Health Plan.

These included terms such as “virtual ward” and “frailty service” for Hospital to Community, “NHS App” and “AI triage” for Analogue to Digital, and “genomic testing” and “population health” for Sickness to Prevention. Only published notices during FY 2024/25 were included, ensuring the data reflects historic spend and delivery, not just policy ambition.

The chart below illustrates a significant skew towards larger average spend across hospital and community procurement, and smaller allocations across the other focus areas. However, while the total contract value may be smaller, the volume of contracts being awarded remains significant across the board.

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Examining routes to market, frameworks play a significant role in NHS procurement but account for only a relatively small portion of total spend. Of the £26.6 billion analysed in FY 2024/25, only 5% (£1.3 billion) was awarded through framework call-offs. However, frameworks accounted for 22% of contracts by volume, showing they remain an important route to market for certain categories and buyers.

Small and medium-sized businesses selling to the NHS secured just 2.5% of the total awarded value, capturing £665.7 million across the year. So to compete more effectively, smaller suppliers need to focus on strategic partnerships, clear proof of delivery, and stronger alignment with NHS system priorities. The opportunity is there, but success depends on being outcome-focused, procurement-ready, and trusted to deliver at scale.

The NHS is actively shifting care from hospitals to community settings. Key initiatives include the rollout of Neighbourhood Health Centres (NHCs) in every community, expansion of virtual wards, hospital-at-home models, and increased investment in community diagnostics.

Contracts worth £21.4 billion were awarded across 987 projects for procurement linked to the transition from hospital to community care. Emergency and safe care dominated, accounting for £16.2 billion, while localised community services accounted for £5 billion.

While this figure is largely driven by a lower volume of large value notice publications during this period, it’s worth exploring the underlying factors behind this significant allocation of spend

• Emergency care commands the larger share due to major investments in infrastructure, urgent response, and digital enablement. These contracts often support virtual wards, diagnostic hubs, and hospital-at-home models, and are typically commissioned at national or regional levels with larger values and faster delivery expectations.
• In contrast, Neighbourhood and Community Care focuses on local transformation. Investment here supports multidisciplinary teams, GP estate upgrades, frailty services, and preventative programmes like social prescribing. These contracts are smaller, more fragmented, and usually commissioned by ICBs or place-based partnerships.

Buyer insights

Top buyers include NHS North East and North Cumbria ICB (£662M across 47 contracts), West Yorkshire ICB (£1.36B across 43 contracts), and Suffolk and North East Essex ICB (£1.27B across 38 contracts). 

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However, regions with minimal activity, such as NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICB have awarded only one contract in this space, signalling potential under-procurement and highlighting areas of untapped demand.

As NHS priorities continue to shift away from hospital-centric models, these organisations are likely to open up to new suppliers who can help deliver care in the community. Based on our analysis, there are 62 buyers with one procurement in the hospital-to-community category during FY 2024/25. Below is a snapshot of 3 buyers from this list.

Supplier insights

Top suppliers include Community Health and Eyecare (£59.6M across 8 contracts), Practice Plus Group Urgent Care (£217.3M across 4 contracts), and Therakos (£18.1M across 3 contracts). Other leading suppliers span diagnostics, urgent care, mental health, and community-based services, including both independent providers and NHS Trusts.

The NHS is investing in prevention to reduce demand and narrow inequalities. Planned projects include the expansion of universal newborn screening and adult genome sequencing, the rollout of Personal Health Budgets to one million people by 2030, and national programmes targeting obesity, smoking, and alcohol-related harm.

Preventative care is now one of the fastest-growing categories in NHS procurement. In FY 2024/25, we tracked £2.97 billion in awarded contracts across 455 awarded contracts.

Buyer insights

Top buyers across this category include NHS West Yorkshire ICB (£161.8M across 19 contracts), Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (£21.6M across 19), and NHS North East and North Cumbria ICB (£11.1M across 19 awards). 

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A long tail of buyers, such as Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB and Surrey Heartlands ICB, have each awarded just one contract in this space. Based on our analysis, there are 46 buyers with one procurement in the sickness-to-prevention category during FY 2024/25. Below is a snapshot of 3 buyers from this list.

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Supplier insights

The suppliers making the biggest impact are those that enable earlier, community-based interventions. ICS Operations, also known as Xyla Elective Care (£22.3M across 10 contracts), Revvity (£29.7M across 3 contracts), and The Priory Group (£18.6M across 4 contracts) are among the leaders supporting the NHS's transition from reactive care to a prevention-focused delivery model.

The NHS is transitioning to a fully digital model to improve patient experience and system efficiency. Core priorities include delivering a Single Patient Record by 2028 that spans all care settings, positioning the NHS App as a round-the-clock digital access point, and scaling tools like AI scribes, voice assistants, and automated triage.

The shift from analogue to digital accounted for £2.23 billion in awarded contract value across 835 deals last year. This category encompasses a range of activities, from capital investment and technology integration projects to comprehensive digital transformation services. 

Buyer insights

Some NHS organisations are leading the transition from analogue to digital by investing in tools and infrastructure that modernise care delivery. The NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit is a clear front-runner, having awarded over £78 million across 54 contracts. 

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For analogue-to-digital, slow-moving organisations such as North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Frimley Integrated Care Board, limited digital procurement activity indicates potential whitespace for suppliers offering scalable, priority-aligned solutions. Based on our analysis, there are 57 buyers with one procurement in the analogue-to-digital category during FY 2024/25. Below is a snapshot of 3 buyers from this list.

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Supplier insights

Our analysis shows value-added resellers like Insight Direct (£148 million across 38 contracts), Softcat (£26.4 million across 36 contracts), and CDW (£39.4 million across 16 contracts) are leading the delivery of analogue-to-digital solutions.

Beyond resellers, AccuRx (£7.6 million across 17 contracts), Accenture (£127 million across 6 contracts) and Dell Corporation also appear regularly in NHS contract awards, particularly in digital transformation and cloud infrastructure projects.

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This is the most accessible of the three themes, with new opportunities continuing to emerge in areas such as automation and system integration. Leading suppliers typically offer NHS App-compatible modules, seamless EHR integrations, and demonstrable savings in staff time or operational costs. 

The NHS is undergoing significant transformation, driven by a long-term plan centred on three procurement-backed shifts: digital care, community-first delivery, and prevention.

At Stotles, we help suppliers act early, engage the right buyers, and win consistently. Here’s how to move from reactive bidding to proactive market leadership:

1. Align your offer with NHS goals

Start by identifying which of the NHS’s three big shifts your product supports best:

• Digital: Build your case around interoperability, NHS App compatibility, and operational efficiency.
• Community: Emphasise how your product enables integrated care outside hospitals.
• Prevention: Prove how you reduce avoidable demand and improve outcomes over time.

Use Stotles' Documents feature to explore the full library of buyer-aligned content. From national policy plans to ICB strategies and local funding statements, this helps your team speak the buyer’s language and shape a strategy rooted in real NHS priorities.

2. Spot early signals before buyers go to market

Most opportunities are won before a tender even lands. With Stotles, you can:

• Set custom alerts to get notified of new tenders, early-stage notices, and pipeline updates
• Track contract expiries across your target buyers
• Identify framework to maximise visibility and access

These signals help your team be proactive building pipeline across the public sector by engaging earlier, influencing specifications, and reduce the risk of last-minute scrambles.

3. Focus on the buyers that matter

Procurement decision-making now happens closer to the front line. Success depends on knowing who holds the budget and where investment is flowing. Stotles helps you:

• Map ICBs and regional buyers aligned with your proposition
• Track procurement budgets and live activity at regional levels
• Surface buyer-level intelligence to spot growth areas in your market

With these insights, your team can focus effort on the right places and build a pipeline grounded in real, active demand.

4. Lead with outcomes and NHS-aligned evidence

Buyers are under pressure to deliver impact. Your bids need to show how your solution supports NHS goals. Improve your win rate by:

• Showcasing pilot outcomes and real-world performance data
• Referencing previous NHS or comparable wins to establish credibility
• Training your team on NHS-specific metrics, so every conversation speaks to what buyers care about

Use Stotles’ Documents feature to pull language directly from NHS strategy and past tenders to match what buyers expect to hear.

5. Work like a partner, not just a vendor

The strongest supplier relationships in the NHS are built on support, collaboration, and long-term alignment. Sales cycles can be slow and unpredictable. Buyers value persistence and partnership. With Stotles, you can:

• Understand how procurement works at both national and local levels
• Keep your team aligned to NHS roadmaps and buyer priorities
• Monitor new strategy releases and funding announcements as they emerge

The NHS is one of the most complex and ambitious health systems in the world. It rewards suppliers who are relevant, easy to work with and show value clearly.

Stotles brings everything you need into one platform: tenders, strategy, funding, buyer intelligence, and early market signals so you can create a clear strategy, build a strong pipeline, and win more bids.