Crisis Cafes in West Sussex NHS/SOEPS/22.841 PINCC

This notice is to inform the market of the intention to directly award contracts to Richmond Fellowship and West Sussex MIND for the provision of a Crisis Cafe Service for NHS Sussex Integrated Care Board ('the ICB') as follows:

• Crawley Crisis Café (Richmond Fellowship):

Six months from 01/04/23 for a total value of £147,013

• Worthing Crisis Café (West Sussex MIND):

Nine months from 01/01/23 for a total value of £212,366

(based on 2021-22 figures)

A key component of the NHS Long-Term Plan for Mental Health the provision of crisis alternatives and support services, including crisis cafes, are considered an essential alternative to de-escalating or preventing a mental health crisis which would otherwise require attendance at A&E or an in-patient admission.

This direct award is necessary to:

• i)Enable a full evaluation of the current service provision to take place and decide whether to reprocure or terminate the service.

• ii)Allow the Sussex-wide review of all existing staying well services (of which this is part) to conclude, so as to ensure equality and consistency across the NHS Sussex footprint.

It is essential that the existing service continues to support both new and existing service users whilst a full evaluation locally and Sussex-wide concludes and a new procurement process takes place. The service is a key component of the crisis and urgent care pathway in West Sussex. If the service did not continue in the interim there would be a significant negative impact on our local population who experience mental health crisis, their families and add to the demand and pressures on other parts of healthcare services including both A&E and MH inpatient services.

If you wish to express an interest or should you wish to discuss the content of the PIN further, please do this by sending a message or a completed Expression of Interest via the In-tend e-Tendering portal at https://intendhost.co.uk/soepscommissioning/aspx/Home in the first instance.

The deadline for expressions of interest is 12:00pm (midday) on Monday 12th December 2022.

If no expressions of interest are received, the Authority intends to enter a contract with the incumbent provider relying upon a Regulation 32 exemption of no response/no requests to participate have been submitted in response to this notice, within 30 days of publication.

Please note a portal message is the only accepted method of expressing an interest (correspondence received by any other route will not be responded to).