Provision of a flexible 'Cafeteria' style contract for Continuing Health Care Services in Mid and South Essex

The Authority has awarded a contract for the provision of a 'cafeteria style contract', which for the purposes of this procurement means "a zero guarantee, activity based contract for the delivery of a comprehensive range of AACC support services, allowing the Essex ICB to flexibly call off any volume or type of CHC assessment or review activity as required, without committing to minimum volumes or fixed activity guarantees) to Carehome Selection Limited trading as Xyla, using a Compliant Framework procedure The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust - National Framework Agreement for All Age Continuing Care Services dated 4th December 2023 with Framework Agreement reference F/092/ACCSS/23/MH under the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

The Contract will be for a term of 12 months from 1st April 2026 to 31st March 2027 (with a potential extension of a further 12 months until 31st March 2028).. The Authority provided for a potential extension of up to 12 months until 31st March 2028 to future proof this contract, but this is in no way guaranteed, and activation of such extension will be at the sole discretion of the Authority based on fundamental principles laid out in the Tender Documents, as well as the performance of the provider and results of any service evaluations undertaken.

NHS Mid and South Essex ICB currently has insufficient workforce and capacity within its NHS CHC function therefore requires support in delivery of CHC Services to meet its statutory requirements. NHS Mid and South Essex ICB require this support to be on a flexible basis i.e. ability to call-off variable volume and type of support in line with capacity and demand.

The CHC Services includes:

• CHC Reviews (CHC/Funded Nursing Care/Fast Track)
• CHC Assessments
• CHC Retrospective reviews of Previously Unassessed Periods of Care (PUPoC)
• CHC Appeals.

On 1 April 2026, NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board will cease to exist and will be replaced by NHS Essex Integrated Care Board (comprised of Mid and South Essex in full, West Essex from current NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB, and North East Essex from NHS Suffolk and North East Essex ICB).

NHS Essex ICB will hold the statutory responsibility for the delivery of All Age Continuing Healthcare (AACC) - comprised of NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC), and Children and Young Peoples Continuing Care (CYPCC) - across Essex. Therefore, NHS Essex ICB will have a continued requirement for this support following transition on the 1 April 2026. The proposed contract, alongside moving to new Operating Model, will provide the ICB with sufficient workforce capacity to cover all areas of AACC delivery.

The indicative value for the service is £1,904,544 (exclusive of VAT) and £2,285,452 (inclusive of VAT) for the initial 12 months of the contract. If the extension is enacted the cumulative indicative value would be £3,809,088 (exclusive of VAT) and £4,570,905 (inclusive of VAT).

Additional information:

The Call Off Contract to be entered into by the Participating Authority and the successful tenderer will be based on the NHS Framework Agreement for the Provision of Services 2022 and Call-Off Terms and Conditions for the Provision of Services and all subsequent variations thereof, as provided for within the Framework.

A voluntary standstill period will apply before the Call-Off contract is concluded. The standstill period will end at midnight on 26th March 2026.