Prior Information Notice (PIN) and Market Engagement Session for the Primary Care Clinical Pharmacist Education and Training Programme - NHS/SoEPS/16.306 PIN

The General Practice Forward View committed to over £100m of investment to support an extra 1,500 clinical practices to work in general practice by 2020/21. This is in addition to over 490 clinical pharmacists already working in general practice as part of a pilot.

In July 2015, a pilot was launched to kick start the expansion of clinical pharmacy in general practice. The purpose of this pilot is to encourage more practices to consider new ways of working, as in many cases experience suggests that there have been significant benefits for patients and for the practice teams by having clinical pharmacists in their multi-disciplinary teams.

The two key objectives of this work are to:

Following the success of the pilot, NHS England will be inviting GP practices and other providers of general practice medical services to apply for funding to help recruit, train and develop more clinical pharmacists to meet the commitment of an additional 1,500 clinical pharmacists in general practice by 2020/21. This is in addition to the pilot scheme launched in July 2015. A further rollout towards the 1,500 target has now been launched and GP practices will be able to apply for funding in January 2017.

HEE will support NHS England in this expansion by designing and delivering a comprehensive education and training programme for this cohort. HEE are working with NHS England to procure the education pathway and independent prescribing is currently in progress.

The contract signature date is anticipated to be 01 June 2017 with the service commencement of the first cohort on 01 September 2017.

We also plan to hold a Market Engagement session in London; address - TBC upon registration, on Wednesday 1st February 2017 at 9am to 12:30pm. This will provide an opportunity for potential providers to find out more about the aims of the tender and the process involved. HEE will use the opportunity to gather intelligence from providers which may influence the final tender.

Please RSVP by 26th January 2017 with the name, title and contact details for attendees (a maximum of two attendees per organisation) to:

Name: Christina Tam

Title: Project Support Officer

Email: Christina.Tam@nhs.net

Additional information: The commissioner reserves the right not to proceed with the Procurement, or any part thereof, or change the requirements as necessary at any time.

It is the intention of the commissioner that the procurement will be conducted as on OJEU Service Contract using an Open Procedure under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

The ITT is expected to be published mid February 2017. A separate advert will be released advising of this.