Community Gastroenterology Services

The scope for this service is the provision of facilities in community locations that can fully support the delivery of gastroenterology services.

From day one the provider would be expected to deliver the following services:

-Attend, participate and contribute in regular Gastro "Strategic Partnership" board meetings.

-Provide a community endoscopy service which includes direct access endoscopy

-Provide a Gastro Prior Approval Service

-Potentially offer new services such as; prevention work, triage of referrals, supporting primary care and the signposting of patients. -Ability to provide extra community endoscopy capacity to accommodate anticipated future increases in demand, if required.

It is anticipated that the scope for this service will develop as the strategic partnership matures; enabling the services to be aligned, rather than being limited by traditional organisational boundaries.

The programme will include:

-Support patients to self-care and self-manage whilst supporting primary care in managing their patients

-Work with primary care to help upskill and educate

-Signposting of patients

-Practitioners will be able to onward refer to secondary care on agreed pathways

-Maintain JAG (Joint Advisory Group) accreditation and participate in the Global Rating Scale

-Potentially flex service and capacity to accommodate increases

-Work with the Public Health commissioned service to support patients on detoxification programmes

-Provide support to cancer Multi-Disciplinary Teams (MDTs) and 2 week wait suspected cancer pathways.

There is potential for the Community Gastroenterology Service Provider to take on additional services or to change the way pathways function throughout the duration of the contract as the partnership and services develop and relationships mature. Over the lifetime of the contract, we would foresee the provider(s) working closely with the system to develop and innovate the services. The Provider shall also be able to demonstrate that it is capable of delivering those elements of the service that may be allocated to them once the Strategic Partnership is formed such as: -Host a full Single Point of Access (SPoA) with administrative and clinical triage for all the specialties and conditions outlined in this specification

-Capability to host lifestyle and treatment clinics in the community

-Provide follow up care (e.g. via telephone) and in future aim to provide telephone support for patients with Long Term Conditions.

Additional information: Contract review provision:

-Please note that the services and associated specification and prices commissioned within this contract may be subject to review and change, moving forward it is the Commissioners intention to undertake a review of its Gastroenterology services in conjunction with the selected providers; therefore, the scope of the possible changes to be made to this contract shall relate to the outcomes of any continuous improvement including the potential introduction of a larger population to support the STP footprint. i.e. the contract and specification may be amended to also deliver gastroenterology services within North East Essex, through a variation to the contract in accordance with Regulation 72 (1) (a) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

Additionally, the contract may also be amended in terms of the original services supplied, where, following assessment it is identified that it is logical for additional services to be delivered in conjunction with this contract and by the provider, both in terms of actual service delivery and to avoid duplication of costs.

These services may include but are not limited to other services and specialties formally delivered in the community and secondary care settings where it is foreseen that these services can be delivered more effectively as part of this contract.