High Intensity User Service, West Sussex

This notice is to inform the market of the direct award of a 12 month contract to The British Red Cross Society, for provision of a High Intensity User Service in West Sussex for NHS Sussex Integrated Care Board (ICB), commencing 1st December 2023. The contract value is £240,000.00 for 12 months.

People who frequently attend Emergency Departments (ED) are few in number, but their impact on health systems is significant. They make up less than one per cent of the population, but account for a significant proportion of all Emergency Department attendances, ambulance journeys and hospital admissions. It is estimated that this costs the NHS at least £2.5bn per year.

HIU services are nationally regarded as best practice, to support the high intensity user to reduce emergency care use, by providing psychosocial support, crisis planning, and signposting in the community.

The service is based on the evidence based model developed by Blackpool CCG, NHS Right Care and British Red Cross and offers a robust way of reducing HIU activity to ED, consequently freeing up urgent care services for people that need them most.

The model requires the identification of frequent ED attenders utilising acute trust data systems. Additional people may be identified due to their vulnerability as opposed to high use of ED. For example, they may have only called 999 or presented to ED between 5-10 times over the previous three months but presented with high risk episodes of self-harm or homelessness.

HIU services use a health coaching approach, targeting high users of services and support the most vulnerable adults within the community more appropriately, whilst making better use of available resources. The service works with local partner organisations and connects people with their local community including drug and alcohol services, housing, social services and third sector groups.

The service will cover the West Sussex area, specifically working with University Hospitals Sussex (UHSussex) emergency departments at Worthing Hospital, St Richard's Hospital, Chichester and Surrey & Sussex Healthcare (SaSH), East Surrey Hospital.

The British Red Cross Society are the incumbent provider of the High Intensity User Service in Brighton and Hove and East Sussex. There is currently no High Intensity User Service in place in West Sussex. To address this inequitable provision, non-recurrent health inequalities funding has been secured, to run a 12 month pilot of this service in West Sussex. The pilot will enable the evaluation of the service's effectiveness, with a view to securing potential longer term investment, allowing a procurement to be undertaken for a longer-term service for the future.

This direct award decision has been taken in the context of meeting patient need and improving service quality.