Pennine Lancashire (Blackburn with Darwen & East Lancashire) Night Sitting Service

Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) wishes to procure a framework of providers of night sitting services for end of life patients within the localities Pennine Lancashire (Blackburn with Darwen and East Lancashire). In September 2021, NICE updated its Quality Standard 13, End of life care for adults. Within this quality standard it advises the following should be in place:

• generalist and specialist services that can meet the physical and specific psychological needs of people approaching the end of life, including access to medicines and equipment, in a safe, effective, and appropriate way at any time of day or night.
• Safe, effective, and appropriate symptom and side-effect management at any time of day or night may require coordinated input from a few different professionals and services. As a minimum, essential 24/7 care services should include:
• generalist medical services (including GPs)
• nursing services (defined as visiting, rapid response services and provision of one-to-one care at home, including overnight)
• personal care services
• access to pharmacy services
• access to equipment and adaptations
• specialist palliative care advice for generalists on symptom and side-effect management.

The North West Model for Life Limiting Conditions covers the breadth of end of life care from stable progressive life-limiting condition; incurable, symptoms treatable all the way through to bereavement care. The requirement of this service provision is to focus on the later stage of element 2 & all stage 3, Advancing Disease & Increasing decline (months and weeks) and last days of life (days and hours).

The ICB are planning to support those patients whose preferred place of death is home by procuring a new model for the delivery of night sits. This will be via a provider framework to enable patients to remain in their usual place of residence whilst receiving 1:1 support. This service will support carers and family members to take breaks from caring for their loved one, whilst knowing they are being cared for.

The Framework is for a period of two years (24 months) with an option to extend for 24 months at which time it will be re-opened for new entrants. The estimated financial envelope is £826,282 per annum.

The ITT will be live on Wednesday 13th July 2022 on the MLCSU Bravo portal (see below) & it will have a deadline for submissions on Friday 12th August 2022 at 12:00pm.

Interested providers are guided to the MLCSU eProcurement portal Bravo at https://mlcsu.bravosolution.co.uk to register their interest & gain access to this procurement's documents & more specific information.

The ICB reserves the right to reject bids that exceed the indicated budget.

Any other public-sector body detailed within this notice, wishing to access the contract may do so only with permission from the contracting NHS body.

Additional information: This procurement is for Social and other specific services which are Light Touch Regime services for the purpose of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 as specified in Schedule 3 of the Regulations ('Regulations') http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/102/schedule/3/made. Accordingly, the Contracting Authority is only bound by those parts of the Regulations detailed in Chapter 3 Particular Procurement Regimes Section 7 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/102/part/2/chapter/3/made

The Contracting Authority is not voluntarily following any other part of the Regulations. The procedure which the Contracting Authority is following is set out in the procurement documents.

As the ICB is a relevant body for the purpose of the National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No 2) Regulations 2013 these Regulations also apply to this procurement.

Right to Cancel: The Contracting Authority reserves the right to discontinue the procurement process at any time, which shall include the right not to award a contract or contracts and does not bind itself to accept the lowest tender, or any tender received, and reserves the right to award a contract in part, or to call for new tenders should it consider this necessary.

The Contracting Authority shall not be liable for any costs or expenses incurred by any candidate or tenderer in connection with the completion and return of the information requested in this Contract Notice, or in the completion or submission of any tender, irrespective of the outcome of the competition or if the competition is cancelled or postponed.

All dates, time periods and values specified in this notice are provisional and the Contracting Authority reserves the right to change these.

Transparency: The Contracting Authority is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) and may be required to disclose information received in the course of this procurement under FOIA or the EIR.

In addition, and in accordance with the UK Government's policies on transparency, the contracting authority intends to publish procurement documentation and the text of any resulting contractual arrangements, subject to possible redactions at the discretion of the Contracting Authority.

Any redactions, whether in relation to information requests under FOIA, the EIR or policies on transparency will be in accordance with those grounds prescribed under the Freedom of Information Act. If and when this requirement is offered to tender, this will be done via electronic means using the internet. Midlands and Lancashire CSU is conducting this procurement exercise as a central purchasing body for another NHS body with whom the successful bidder(s) will enter into contracts for the supply of the services.