National Framework Agreement for Home Oxygen Services.

The National Framework Agreement will be established by NHS England on behalf of all Clinical CommissioningGroups (CCGs) and NHS Wales, who have the responsibility for commissioning the Home Oxygen Service for Service Users.

The Home Oxygen Service (HOS) provides a service to users in their own homes and also supports users working and travelling outside the home through the provision of appropriate oxygen supply and equipment.

The services include, but are not limited to; the provision of a customer contact centre; processing and delivery of Home Oxygen requests; supply and installation of equipment; training and guidance for Service Users and/ orcarers; managing oxygen supplies through replenishment of cylinders and Liquid Oxygen (LOX); reimbursement of electricity costs for concentrator users; and servicing and maintenance of equipment.

Additional information: The purpose of this Prior Information Notice (PIN) is to:

• Give advance notice that NHS England, intends to undertake a tendering exercise to set up framework agreements in respect of Home Oxygen Service;
• To request information from the marketplace relating to the services;
• To allow potential tenderers to register for the upcoming supplier event.

Background

NHS England is looking to establish a new national framework agreement for Home Oxygen Services as the current framework for Home Oxygen is due to expire. This will be a single Lot agreement, with multiple suppliers appointed to the Lot. The framework will be accessible to CCGs in England and NHS Wales.

The home oxygen service provides a service to users in their own homes and also supports users working andtravelling outside the home through the provision of appropriate oxygen equipment. CCGs, have responsibilityfor providing the home oxygen service to Patients.

The services that will be included on the framework include, but are not limited to;

• the provision of a customer contact centre;
• processing and delivery of Home Oxygen requests;
• supply and installation of equipment;
• training and guidance for Service Users and/ or carers;
• managing oxygen supplies through replenishment of cylinders and Liquid Oxygen (LOX);
• reimbursement of electricity costs for concentrator users;
• and servicing and maintenance of equipment.

Suppliers must be able to deliver all aspects of the service and must support the service that they provide with a suite of reports that enable clinicians to monitor the oxygen usage for their patients, and to be alerted when Service Users are not responsive to Risk Assessments and maintenance. This is in addition to reports that support reconciliation.

Supplier Engagement Opportunity

NHS England will be holding a supplier engagement day in July with details to be confirmed. The purpose of the day is engage with suppliers that are interested in and consider themselves capable of delivering the services to understand the following:

• (a)Known constraints with the current Home Oxygen delivery model;
• (b)Potential solutions to known issues;
• (b)Possible areas of innovation or opportunities that exist to improve service delivery.

Interested parties can register for the event by contacting NHS England via the following e-mail address: anita.pannu@nhs.net with the following information:

• (a)Organisation Name,
• (b)Attendees (maximum of 2 per organisation),
• (c)Contact details,
• (d)If you would like to take part in any Closed Session.

Interested suppliers will be provided with information about the day and supporting notes, which will also be made available to those unable to attend.