NHS England South West - Provision of Dental Services in Frome, Somerset

AWARD NOTICE - Due to the termination of an NHS contract, NHS England South West (the Commissioner) sought to commission dental services for the delivery of approximately 8,000 Units of Dental Activity (UDAs) per annum for patients living in and around Frome, Somerset. The procurement was carried out by NHS South, Central & West Commissioning Support Unit (SCW) on behalf of the Commissioners.

The purpose of undertaking the procurement was due to the Commissioner receiving notice from the previous provider of the service. The service was previously provided from BA11 2HA, and the new service will be required to be delivered from within a 2 mile radius of BA11 2HA.

The 8,000 UDAs are expected to provide dental services for approximately 3000 patients (based on the 2016/17 Frome average of 2.7 UDAs per patient).

The UDAs will be offered at a fixed price of £25.00 per UDA, which is non-negotiable.

The Commissioner will be contracting for the Services using the standard Personal Dental Services (PDS) Agreement and an appended service specification. The Agreement is offered for a 5 year period with service commencement on the 1st November 2018.

It is expected that the successful provider will be able to immediately accept new patients from contract commencement, and provide continuity of NHS dental care for those patients that have been displaced following the termination of the current service.

The successful bidder will also be required to work closely with the NHS England Commissioning Team in order to co-ordinate and promote patient access to achieve the expected level of dental performance.

The service specification works in relation to and not instead of the NHS (General Dental Services /Personal Dental Services Contracts) Regulations 2005.

Additional information: The services are healthcare services falling within Schedule 3 to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ("the Regulations") which are not subject to the full regime of the Regulations, but is instead governed by the "Light Touch Regime" contained within Chapter 3, Section 7 of the Regulations (Regulations 74 to 77).