Leeds Young Persons Social Emotional & Mental Health Service

NHS Leeds CCG invited tenders for a Young Person's Social Emotional and Mental Health service. There is a need for the provision of social emotional mental health services that address the specific needs of adolescents and young adults. It is widely accepted that particular groups within this age range do not engage well with statutory mental health services (and that often these are the most vulnerable young people) and also require services that are accessible in terms of the location, the environment and the approach used.

The provider must (as a minimum) have access to a venue, which is within close proximity of the city centre. Ideally the provider will also have access to satellite sites which will better enable young people to access services independently and enable sustainable exit planning into their local community. Access to services must be appropriate to age, i.e. outside formal learning hours where young people are of statutory school age. The environment will be informal and non-stigmatising, and staff must be experienced in working with this age range (11- 17 year olds up to 25 years old in the case of disability or learning disability or if they are a care leaver). The provider must be able to offer a range of social emotional mental health services in order to supplement those provided by statutory services. There must also be scope for negotiated referral to statutory services.

Future in Mind (2015) considered the ways to make it easier for children, young people, parents and carers to access help and support when needed. It also looked at improving how children and young people's mental health services are provided, commissioned and organised. The themes bring together the core principles and requirements which are considered to be important to ensuring there is a system which properly supports the emotional wellbeing and mental health of children and young people.

Full details of the Service are provided within the Service Specification (see 'Service Specification Contract

and other Relevant Information' within ITT Document 2), providing some helpful supplementary

information about the commissioning intentions of the Contracting Authority.

The Services to which this Procurement relates fall within Schedule 3 of the Public Contracts Regulations

2015 (the 'Regulations'). As such, the procurement of the Services is being run as a bespoke, single-stage

application process akin to the Open Procedure. NHS Leeds CCG does not intend to hold itself bound by

any of the Regulations, save those applicable to Schedule 3 services.