Lancashire & South Cumbria ICB - West Lancashire - iHELP Community Pain Management

NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit conducted this procurement on behalf of Lancashire & South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (formerly NHS West Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)).

The service required a single point of access for all chronic pain referrals to ensure that only appropriate referrals are forwarded to secondary care and the majority of patients are managed and cared for outside secondary care.

The project aimed to meet the needs of patients with chronic pain, for example providing advice around physical activity, nutritional and psychological needs and the use of tools and technology to help them self manage the pain they are experiencing.

The NHS England 5 Year Forward View recommended patients “with long-term conditions” are empowered and also recognised the importance of “promoting wellbeing and independence”. It also stated that “patients should have direct control over care provided to them”.

The procurement included a Pre Qualification Stage (PQQ), followed by Phase 1 (Design), then Phase 2 (Pilot) and then Phase 3 (Assurance Process with the final provider).

Following the PQQ, 2 preferred bidders were selected. During phase 1, the Commissioner worked with the preferred bidders to aid the

design whilst simultaneously mitigating the preferred bidders’ financial risk by providing the potential budget described below:

Maximum budget per preferred bidder - £40,000

Minimum number of preferred bidders – 1

Maximum number of preferred bidders – 2

Total maximum phase 1 budget - £80,000

In the Design phase (phase1) the provider’s service model to address the service specification was designed.

The Pilot phase (phase 2) was initially expected to last for 2 years to allow the provider to pilot their design. Due to implementational issues, the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, this pilot phase was extended to 3 years. During phases 1 and 2 the Commissioner aimed to protect the provider from financial risk. From phase 3, it was always expected that further risk could be transferred to the provider at the Commissioner’s reasonable discretion in agreement with the provider.

Following the pilot (Phase 2), the commissioner completed an Assurance Process with the Preferred Bidder, and added Alternative packages budget and Radiofrequency.

The Assurance Process included questions regarding the following areas: Service Delivery, Communication/Information, Prescribing and Medicines Optimisation, Quality and Governance, Workforce, Contracts Conditions, Finance.