Contract for the Provision of Services for Healthy Weight Support for Children in Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire County Council has awarded a contract following an open tender process for an initial pilot approach for a new Tier 2 healthy weight management service for children and their families in Oxfordshire. This will enable the Council to test and learn what works well and not so well in different areas across Oxfordshire and with different communities to inform future commissioning.

The Council invited tenders from providers to pilot the delivery of group and 1-1 support at Tier 2 for children and families across all 5 districts in Oxfordshire, but with a focus on the greatest areas of inequality and excess weight. Working with partners to provide a streamlined pathway of care between Tier 1-4 will be paramount to this offer.

Reducing obesity is a priority public health issue for Oxfordshire. The Health Improvement Board (HIB) oversees the Whole Systems Approach (WSA) to healthy weight, which involves system partners working together to deliver a range of initiatives to increase the number of adults, children and families who are a healthy weight in Oxfordshire. Reducing health inequalities by working with disadvantaged communities and individuals is integral to this approach.

The provision of tier 2 weight management services for children and their families will contribute to the WSA and close a gap in healthy weight support for children who are identified as very overweight or obese following national childhood measurement programme (NCMP) or otherwise.

Tenderers were invited to tender for the provision for a term of 18 Months with an option for the Council to extend for up to 12 Months originally anticipated to commence on 1 May 2022.

Expressions of Interest were made and all documentation relating to this procurement, including the full specification, were published via the South East Business Portal https://sebp.due-north.com/