The Provision of Patient Discharge Services

The purpose of this framework agreement is to collaborate with third party Suppliers to Supply Patient Discharge Services to adults aged 18 and over.

The aim is to support hospital discharges for adults and to improve the patient pathway from Acute care to an appropriate care setting, streamline the transition from hospital to the community/care homes, and therefore reduce delayed transfers of care and unavoidable re-admissions to hospital.

The service will cover any patients who have been deemed medically fit/stable for acute discharge by the discharge coordinator to one of the following destinations:

• Usual place of residence
• An appropriate community setting which can meet the individual's needs

The framework will be divided into three service Lots:

Lot 1 - Discharge to Assess Services - Assessment for longer term care & support in the right place. Where people who are clinically optimised and do not require an acute hospital bed, but may still require care services and lower level support.

Lot 2 - Third party brokerage - Dedicated support and brokerage to reduce delayed transfers of care. These services work personally with families and beyond the traditional care hours model to support people to move to a care home of their choice, step-down care or back into their own homes.

Lot 3 - Medical Care at Home - Otherwise known as Secondary Care at Home or a Virtual Ward. Medical Care at Home may operate in the same way as a normal hospital ward, the difference is the patient stays in his/her own home and receives medical care in this setting.

The framework excludes Mental health problems which are the primary problem and Paediatrics.

Objectives of the framework are:

• Facilitate transfer of patients from hospital beds to a more appropriate level of care.
• Supply additional bed capacity within the NHS urgent care system infrastructure by relieving bed pressures within the local health economy.
• Discharge of patients meeting specific clinical criteria into an appropriate care setting, reducing instances of re-admission to hospital
• Allowing patients to have personalised one-to-one support maintaining continuity of care. Dedicated pathway to hospital discharge management services

The framework will be divided into 13 geographical areas.

The Services to which this Procurement relates fall within the scope of Schedule 3 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (the "Regulations") the Light Touch Regime.

NHS SBS may re-advertise and open further procurement processes to invite additional providers to be appointed to the Framework.