NHS England & NHS Improvement - Adult Eating Disorder Beds within the South East Regional Footprint

This notice is published as a Prior Information Notice (PIN) as a call for competition for expressions of interest. The Commissioner may then choose to proceed directly to a procurement process with parties who have responded to the notice and there shall be no further notice published.

NHS England and NHS Improvement South East (NHSE/I) seeks Expressions of Interest (EOI) from providers who have the capability and capacity to deliver adult eating disorder in-patient services in the South East region*.

These services are not currently available within the South East region, meaning that people from the South East who require an adult eating disorder admission are frequently required to travel long distances from home. This is particularly challenging during the COVID pandemic due to the restrictions on travel within and across regions.

The contract term is likely to be 1 year, with the option to extend for a further 1 year at the commissioner's discretion. The expectation is that 8 beds will be required.

The anticipated contract value is in the region of £2,000,000.00 for 8 beds, per year; further information in relation to finance will be confirmed later.

Currently the South East has to access adult eating disorder beds commissioned from services outside of the South East. NHSE/I's aspiration is to establish safe, effective and timely access to services within the South East on or before 1st April 2021.

As such, only organisations with appropriate experience, capability and capacity to mobilise quickly should respond to this notice. For the avoidance of doubt, capacity relates to staffing, premises, beds, appropriate systems and any other resources required to enable delivery of these services.

New services will need to demonstrate willingness to work with emerging South East AED provider collaboratives or systems.

A copy of the current national service specification is provided (on In-Tend). Please note that changes to the national programme are anticipated during, or immediately following the term of this contract, and therefore providers will be expected to work with commissioners to support implementation of required changes and adjust service delivery in a safe and timely manner, if required.

Additionally the future provision of adult eating disorder services will be informed via the outcomes of the Adult Eating Disorders National Demand and Capacity Review which has recently commenced and will help determine next steps. The provider will also be required to meet the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Standards for Adult Inpatient Eating Disorder Services (provided on In-Tend).

*The South East NHSE/I region covers several counties, as defined on the following website: https://www.england.nhs.uk/south-east/

Additional information: To register an expression of interest, please complete the Market Engagement Questionnaire, available within In-Tend as a downloadable Word document and upload to the placeholder provided. Expressions of interest must be received by 12pm on Monday 11th January 2021.

EOIs received will be used to help NHSE/I finalise their commissioning and contracting approach for these services.

This exercise is being carried out by NHS South, Central & West Commissioning Support Unit on behalf of NHSE/I.

NHS England/Improvement South East is experiencing a significant latent surge in demand for eating disorder inpatient beds. Community teams are reporting that patients are presenting with higher levels of acuity and frequently require stabilisation in acute hospitals before accessing the appropriate inpatient AED beds. Community teams also report a lack of timely bed availability for patients who have been assessed to meet the threshold for specialised eating disorder in-patient care. NHSE/I SE are working with national leads to inform the demand and capacity review of AED. In the interim period NHSE/I SE would like to commission 8 beds to address the unmet need and high levels of acuity for this highly vulnerable patient cohort.

This is particularly challenging during the COVID pandemic with the restrictions on travel within and across regions.

In light of the significant unmet need and surge in demand for inpatient adult eating disorder beds across the South East, NHSE/I are seeking expressions of interest from providers with the appropriate expertise, capacity and capability to provide rapid access to 8 adult eating disorder beds in the South East region.

The contract duration is 1 year with the option to extend for a further 1 year at the commissioner's discretion.

The anticipated contract value is in the region of £2,000,000.00 per annum and therefore up to a maximum anticipated value of £4,000,000.00 if the extension option was to be enacted.

Interested providers will be able to view this opportunity via the 'current tenders' list on the e-procurement system, In-Tend, available on the following link: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/scwcsu/aspx/Home

If you are not already registered on the system you will need to do so before you can fully access the opportunity. On registration, please include at least two contacts to allow for access to the system in times of absence.

The services are healthcare services falling within Schedule 3 to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ("the Regulations") which are not subject to the full regime of the Regulations, but is instead governed by the "Light Touch Regime" contained within Chapter 3, Section 7 of the Regulations (Regulations 74 to 77).