Key Points
- NHS England has selected Netcompany as its digital delivery partner for national adult screening programmes in a five-year partnership worth more than £215 million.
- The contract covers the digital services supporting all seven national adult screening programmes and around 15 million screening invitations each year.
- The programme includes major screening services such as breast, cervical and bowel cancer screening, alongside other national adult screening services.
- Netcompany will operate and transform existing digital services while developing new NHS-owned and sovereign technology built in the UK and controlled by the NHS.
- The partnership forms part of the NHS Digital Prevention Services Programme (DPSP) and supports the Government’s wider ambition to move healthcare towards prevention and earlier diagnosis.
- The procurement includes a commitment for at least 33% of contract revenue to go to UK small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) through Netcompany’s partner ecosystem.
- Netcompany will work with UK partners including dxw, Create/Change, Adroc and Softwire, while a dedicated Screening Innovation Fund will support SME-led innovation.
- The contract was awarded to NETCOMPANY UK LIMITED for £215,163,316, according to procurement information sourced from Contracts Finder.
Inverted pyramid: The most significant development is NHS England’s selection of Netcompany for a five-year digital delivery partnership worth more than £215 million, aimed at operating and transforming the technology underpinning the UK’s national adult screening programmes. The agreement places digital infrastructure at the centre of the NHS’s effort to improve prevention, screening access and earlier diagnosis while creating new NHS-owned services.
What has NHS England awarded to Netcompany?
As reported by Consultancy.uk on 10 September 2026, NHS England has selected Netcompany for a major project to digitalise services supporting cancer screening, with the five-year contract valued at more than £215 million. Consultancy.uk reported that the project will build digital infrastructure underpinning seven national adult screening programmes.
The procurement record provides a more precise figure. Information sourced from Contracts Finder shows that NHS England awarded the Adult Screening and Personalisation Digital Delivery Services contract to NETCOMPANY UK LIMITED for £215,163,316. The award date was 25 August 2026, with the procurement notice published on 4 September.
The contract is intended to provide a digital delivery partner for adult screening and personalisation services. Procurement records classify the work under IT services covering consulting, software development, internet and support.
Netcompany’s own announcement, published on 3 September, said the five-year partnership would support NHS England in operating and transforming the digital services behind national adult screening programmes. The company said the partnership would begin in September 2026.
Which NHS screening programmes will the contract support?
According to Netcompany, the agreement covers all seven national adult screening programmes and around 15 million invitations each year. The company specifically identified breast, cervical and bowel cancer screening among the services covered.
NHS England’s public-health information confirms the national adult screening landscape includes programmes such as breast screening, cervical screening, bowel screening, diabetic eye screening and abdominal aortic aneurysm screening.
NHS England’s digital screening services also show how technology is already used to identify eligible people, manage invitations and appointments and support national screening delivery. Its current digital service information includes abdominal aortic aneurysm, bowel, breast and cervical screening, while lung cancer screening technology is also being developed.
The scale of the programme is significant because the digital services are involved in reaching millions of people. Healthcare Digital, in a report by Sam Robinson, said the NHS invites around 15 million people each year to attend screening appointments and described the partnership as being designed to support earlier diagnosis and faster treatment.
Why is the NHS investing in new screening technology?
The contract comes as the NHS seeks to strengthen prevention and identify disease earlier rather than relying primarily on treatment after illness has developed.
According to Consultancy.uk, the reformed digital services will form a central part of the NHS Digital Prevention Services Programme (DPSP) and support the Government’s ambition to move the health service from treatment towards prevention. Consultancy.uk also linked the initiative to the direction set out in the NHS 10-Year Plan.
Netcompany said the programme will support the development of modern, secure and data-driven solutions intended to make screening faster, more effective and more targeted. André Rogaczewski, CEO and co-founder of Netcompany, described the programme as one of the company’s most ambitious digital programmes in the UK healthcare sector.
Rogaczewski said the digital systems supporting screening have a significant impact on millions of citizens because screening can contribute to earlier detection and treatment.
The emphasis on digital infrastructure reflects the operational role technology plays in screening. NHS England says its screening services help identify people at higher risk of serious conditions, manage invitations and appointments and support delivery of national programmes.
What will Netcompany build and transform?
The agreement is not limited to maintaining existing technology. Netcompany said it will operate and transform the digital services behind existing screening pathways while developing new NHS-owned services.
According to IT Brief, reported by Sofiah Nichole Salivio, the programme will involve running and updating the digital systems used across the national screening programmes while developing new NHS-owned services. The report also highlighted planned work involving a new national breast screening service and changes to cervical screening, including digital invitations and the potential use of HPV self-testing kits at home.
Netcompany’s announcement similarly states that the services will be sovereign and NHS-owned, meaning they will be built in the UK and controlled by the NHS.
This approach is intended to give the NHS greater control over the technology supporting nationally important screening services while creating new digital capabilities rather than simply extending existing systems.
How will the contract support UK technology businesses?
A significant part of the agreement concerns the wider UK technology supply chain.
Netcompany said it will deliver the programme through an ecosystem of UK partners and has committed to directing at least 33% of contract revenue to small and medium-sized businesses. The company named dxw, Create/Change and Adroc among its trusted UK partners, with Softwire acting as a scaling partner.
Softwire separately confirmed its participation in the programme and said it had been selected as a scaling partner within Netcompany’s ecosystem of UK partners. According to Softwire, the consortium includes dxw, Create Change and Adroc and is committing more than one-third of contract revenue to UK SMEs.
The arrangement also includes a dedicated Screening Innovation Fund. Netcompany said the fund will support SME-led proofs of concept, including businesses that are new to public-sector work. The company also set a target for one in five supply-chain businesses to be led by people from underrepresented groups.
The procurement therefore extends beyond the immediate supplier relationship between NHS England and Netcompany, with the partnership intended to involve a wider network of UK technology businesses.
What does the partnership mean for NHS-owned digital services?
The NHS ownership element is one of the defining features of the agreement.
Netcompany said the new services will be built in the UK and controlled by the NHS. The company described this as part of the broader NHS Digital Prevention Services Programme and the Government’s move towards prevention-focused healthcare.
UKAuthority, with reporting by News Editor Mark Chillingworth, described the award as a significant step in the NHS’s shift from treatment towards prevention. The publication reported that the five-year partnership would cover all seven national adult screening programmes and around 15 million invitations each year.
The ownership model also places emphasis on digital sovereignty. Rather than simply outsourcing the entire technology environment, the NHS is expected to retain control over the services being developed and operated for these national programmes.
What has Netcompany said about its role?
Netcompany has positioned the award within its existing experience of delivering mission-critical digital services for healthcare systems and governments.
As reported by Consultancy.uk, Netcompany is a European IT consultancy headquartered in Copenhagen and was founded in 1999. Consultancy.uk reported that the company operates across 12 countries and employs more than 7,800 people.
The company said it has previous experience delivering national healthcare and screening programmes across the UK and Europe, as well as digital services for the NHS and UK Government.
Richard Davies, UK Country Managing Partner at Netcompany, said the company would build modern, secure and data-driven platforms intended to enable the NHS to target screening more precisely, while investment in UK SMEs would contribute to a stronger digital health supply chain.
The comments indicate that Netcompany’s role will involve both technology delivery and wider supply-chain participation.
How does the contract fit into the NHS’s wider digital strategy?
The agreement comes against a wider effort to modernise NHS digital infrastructure and use technology to support prevention.
NHS England’s existing digital screening services already support functions such as identifying eligible people, issuing invitations and managing screening-related services.
The new partnership is intended to develop that digital infrastructure further, with a focus on nationally integrated services that can support large-scale screening activity.
The emphasis on prevention is also consistent with NHS priorities around earlier diagnosis. NHS England has highlighted screening as an important means of identifying serious diseases at an earlier stage, while its London service has urged people to respond to screening invitations for bowel, breast and cervical cancer checks.
For organisations operating across Healthcare Management, the development illustrates how healthcare delivery is increasingly dependent on digital systems, data infrastructure and coordinated service management. For professionals working in IT and Computer Science, it also demonstrates the scale at which secure digital platforms are being deployed across public healthcare services.
What happens next for the £215 million NHS screening programme?
The partnership begins in September 2026, according to Netcompany and several reports covering the announcement.
The immediate focus will be on supporting and transforming the digital infrastructure behind the national adult screening programmes, while new NHS-owned services are developed.
The procurement record identifies the awarded supplier as NETCOMPANY UK LIMITED and places the contract value at £215,163,316.
The programme will therefore combine long-term operation of existing digital screening capabilities with development of new services. Its scale covering seven national adult screening programmes and approximately 15 million invitations each year means that the outcome will affect a substantial part of the NHS’s preventative healthcare infrastructure.
As reported by Pharmacy Business journalist Shajil Kumar, the five-year partnership covers all seven national adult screening programmes and is intended to provide NHS-owned technology for the services. Kumar’s report also highlighted the significance of the arrangement for the NHS’s prevention agenda.
With the programme beginning in September, NHS England and Netcompany now face the task of translating the contract into operational digital services while maintaining continuity for existing screening pathways. The stated objective is to create modern, secure and data-driven infrastructure that can support screening at national scale while keeping ownership and control within the NHS.
For organisations and professionals involved in Healthcare Management, IT and Computer Science, and Data Science and Visualization, the programme also reflects the increasingly interconnected role of healthcare operations, digital technology and data in the delivery of public services