Critical Care Transfer Co-ordination Service (Call Handling) East Midlands

NHS Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (AGCSU), on behalf of NHS England Midlands (referred to as the Commissioner), is undertaking a market engagement exercise to understand the current and future capacity and capability of the providers and potential providers within this specialised area.

NHS England Midlands would like to identify providers who are interested in the provision of a 24/7 critical care transfer coordination service (Call Handling) in line with the service specification.

The service will receive and coordinate all urgent and emergency requests for advice and/or transfers (via telephone and digital routes) for intra-uterine, neonatal critical care (CenTre), paediatric critical care (CoMET), and Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) for the East Midlands Region. It will manage requests according to agreed protocols and act as a conduit to support the provision of advice, patient referrals and transfers being processed, including the facilitation of cot/bed locating calls where required. The service will be delivered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The service will respond to all requests within the Key Performance Indicators.

This notice is to advise prospective providers in the market of the commissioner's intention to commission this service and to provide an opportunity to engage with and participate in a market engagement questionnaire. The outcome of this market engagement will help inform commissioners of the current and future capacity and capability of the market and will be considered with other evidence to inform the commissioning approach. Where it is noted that competition is absent, direct awards may be considered. All providers will be notified of next steps following the conclusion of this market engagement exercise.

It is anticipated that the contract duration for this service will be 5 years, including an option to extend for up to an additional 12 months.

The questionnaire is available through the Atamis portal: https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome

There will also be an opportunity to attend a market engagement event via Microsoft Teams at 3.30pm - 5pm on Thursday 19th October 2023. If you would like to participate in this event, please email anna.salt@nhs.net by 9am on Thursday 19th October 2023. All slides and questions and responses will be made available to all bidders following the event.

The reference is C211721 and the closing date for submission of the completed questionnaire will be: 12pm midday on Wednesday 15th November 2023.