Mid & South Essex Breathlessness and Diagnostic Hubs

This is a Contract Award Notice to communicate a contract award made by NHS Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group as lead commissioner on behalf of the Mid and South East Essex Clinical Commissioning Groups (the Authority) consisting NHS Mid Essex CCG, NHS Basildon and Brentwood Clinical Commissioning Group NHS Thurrock Clinical Commissioning Group, NHS Castle Point & Rochford Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS Southend CCG), in accordance with the Authorities Standing Financial Instructions (SFI's).

The contract award is made to Provide CIC for the provision of Breathlessness and Diagnostic Hubs covering the population of Mid & South Essex, from 1st December 2021 to 31st March 2023 at an aggregate contract value of £412,558 over the 5 month term.

There is an intention to put forward a business case to extend this model of care beyond the 5 month period up to 12 months and an associated Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice published 06.12.21 confirmed the CCGs clear intention to award the contract to Provide CIC for up to 12 months at a potential contract value of £990,138. Should any further contract awards be made, these will be followed by a corresponding contract award notice.

The objectives and benefits of this service are to:

• reduce the number of unplanned admissions for Respiratory disease, particularly short-stay admissions.
• improve the ability of patients to self-manage and support them to do so when they exacerbate, ensuring they access the most appropriate services in a timely and safe manner.
• ensure patients are managed holistically, linking into local services for their other healthcare needs

E.g. Falls, Swallowing and Continence problems.

• ensure that GP's and practice nurses have the right training and specialist support to manage all COPD and Asthma patients in line with national guidance without undue referrals to secondary care.
• support early discharge of patients with COPD through remote monitoring of the patient within their own home.

The service will ensure that the following core criteria are met as set out in the NHS Long Term Plan:

• To build on the existing NHS RightCare programme to reduce variation in the quality of spirometry testing across Mid and South Essex. More staff in the community will be trained and accredited to provide the specialist input required to interpret results.
• The service must ensure equity of access. Consideration must be given to groups most likely to be impacted by health inequalities and how they access and utilise healthcare services to ensure that no one is discouraged or unable to benefit.

Oversight of the programme delivery will be through a multi-agency stewardship comprised of Commissioners Providers and Clinicians and will align with the current Assessment Service, working towards a wider ICS system. The clinical expertise required needs to build upon existing services across MSE to meet the current demands of respiratory and COPD patients.

Additional information: The Authority is publishing this Contract Award Notice in the Contracts Finder in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended by The Public Procurement (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020) for spend above £25,000.

The Service to which this procurement relates fall within Schedule 3 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. As such, the Authority does not intend to hold itself bound by any of the Regulations, save those applicable to Schedule 3 Services and the contract value does not exceed the procurement threshold relevant to schedule 3 services.