Minor Eye Conditions NHS/SOEPS/21.795 PIN

This notice is to inform the market of the intention of the Authority to direct award a contract for up to a period of 12 months with an option to extend the contract by up to a further 10 months to Primary Eyecare Services Ltd for the provision of a Minor Eye Conditions Service for NHS East Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group ('the CCG') from 27 November 2021.

The aim of this service is to provide timely access to local primary care services for treatment of minor eye conditions through local Optical Practices in the East Sussex CCG localities, serving the population of Eastbourne, Seaford, Hailsham, Hastings, Battle and Rother geographical areas.

The key aim of the service is to provide a responsive, high quality assessment and referral service for a range of minor eye conditions and potentially sight threatening acute eye conditions within the community.

The primary objective is to move care closer to home, enabling patient to utilise the skills and capacity of community optometrists to treat and manage patients who would otherwise attend hospital and GP surgeries.

Planned care resources have been re-directed to other priorities as part of the local NHS response to COVID-19. As a result of the COVID-19 response the timescale genuinely precludes competitive procurement due to the emergency requirement of this service. This is permissible under emergency regulation 32 of the procurement regulations.

In addition, Sussex Commissioners do not believe a procurement at this time of COVID-19 recovery is in the best interests of patients and are looking to ensure service quality and stability by awarding a new contract to the incumbent provider.

As part of the ICS Ophthalmology Programme, the future intention is to complete a two part evaluation of the MEC service; 1) to review the current and past MEC services that have been commissioned within the Sussex area; 2) to review MEC services in other areas of the country to see why Sussex has historically had differing outcomes from these and what we might do differently.

Depending on the outcome of the evaluations above, MECS may be re-commissioned or potentially procured as a Sussex-wide service, or ceased altogether if the evaluation outcomes indicate this.

The up to 22-month direct award intention set out in this notice will allow commissioners adequate time over this busy period, to comprehensively shape the MEC service and determine the most appropriate route to commission the requirement from September 2023, as the health and care system moves into an Integrated Care System (ICS).

This proposal is made in the context of meeting patient need, maintaining service delivery and quality, and supporting the ambition as set out in national and local plans.

Please submit all queries via email in the first instance.

Additional information: Please note: NHS England and Improvement have announced that the Sussex Health and Care Partnership, which is made up of all health and care organisations across East Sussex, West Sussex, and Brighton and Hove, has successfully met the criteria to become an Integrated Care System (ICS). An ICS is a way of working across health and care organisations that allows them to work closer together, to take collective responsibility of the health and wellbeing of populations across large areas.

It is not anticipated that the statutory responsibility or accountability of the individual health and care organisations working as an ICS will be affected, save for the expectation that CCG organisations will be abolished and functions transferred to the ICS. As a result of these intended healthcare reforms, the Contracting Authority, currently NHS East Sussex CCG, may change during the life of the contract.