Somerset CCG - End of Life and Palliative Care

Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group (SCCG) is to award a contract to St Margaret's Somerset Hospice to provide End of Life Palliative Care.

St Margaret's provides palliative care to patients with life limiting diseases when their disease is not responsive to curative treatment and the patient has a limited life expectancy. The service delivered by St Margaret's Hospice includes providing relief from pain and other distressing symptoms, integrating psychological and spiritual aspects of patient care, providing bereavement counselling if required and working in partnership with the health and care system to deliver a joined up and holistic service for our patient population.

The commissioners undertook a thorough options analysis to define market offerings against Somerset requirements. The outcome of which concluded that St Margaret's Hospice continues to offer a good service and financial value in line with requirements which is in line with the long-term plan and the ongoing development of the Somerset Integrated Care System of which St Margaret's is a key partner.

The specialist nature of the delivery is required within the boundaries of Somerset and St Margaret's established network within Somerset is best placed geographically with an established infrastructure and associated links and relationships that could not be easily replicated / replaced.

They have the desired specialist expertise to deliver these services to the population of Somerset.

It is also worth noting that Somerset CCG's investment to the hospice is only a partial contribution to cover the cost of the services commissioned by the NHS.

It is proposed that the new contract period is 1st April 2022 - 31st March 2025 and will include the option to extend for up to a further two years (to 31st March 2027) at an annualised contract value of circa £2.7m

The services are deemed to be subject to the light touch regime of current procurement legislation and governed by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The Commissioner has voluntarily advertised this notice of intention to award this contract to reach as wide an audience as possible and to promote transparency and in line with regulation 32(2)(b)(ii). The Commissioner is firmly of the view that competition is absent for technical reasons, and that the organisation listed above is the only provider capable of meeting the CCG's needs with its intuitive and proactive delivery which is linked to the long-term plan.