Harrow Referral Optimisation Pilot Service

NHS Harrow Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has awarded an interim contract for the provision of a Referral Optimisation Service as a critical intervention to manage unforeseen and significant increases in patient referral activity into secondary care, assessed to be an unsustainable level of demand. The service will assist the CCG to bring under control current performance and financial pressures within the local NHS health economy, assessed as an urgent control measure to protect and safeguard key services for patients.

The service will support achievement of nationally mandated access targets through effective management of system capacity in line with clinical need, supporting financial sustainability. The service being urgently mobilised will run as a pilot for 18 months and will inform the CCG's development of its commissioning requirements to establish a longer term, substantive contract thereafter.

The CCG will achieve immediate deployment of an interim solution through alignment with existing local systems and services.

The CCG intends to invite expressions of interest from the market during August 2017 and subsequent engagement with potential providers to inform the specification of the substantive contract which will awarded following a procurement process during 2018, the scope of which is likely to broaden to offer a similar referral optimisation solution to neighbouring CCGs.