Provision of Ophthalmology Services to Dorset

This is a Pre-Tender Market Engagement (PTME) event only and is not a call for competition.

This PTME event seeks information for the potential procurement of a Supplier to provide Ophthalmology Services.

The purpose of this PTME is to:

NHS Dorset ICB shall maintain commercial confidentiality of information received during the PTME.

About NHS Dorset

NHS Dorset is the commissioning organisation for the whole county of Dorset and undertakes the statutory responsibilities for clinical commissioning and is responsible for planning to meet the healthcare needs of people and communities in Dorset.

NHS Dorset vision is to make Dorset the healthiest place to live. By working together, NHS Dorset aims to achieve the best possible improvements in health and wellbeing for the Dorset population.

Background

Dorset population:

Dorset ICB serves a population of ~840,000 people. Our population is older than the national average with a quarter of people aged over the age of 65.

We have some extremely affluent areas such as sandbanks peninsula, alongside areas of deprivation including Boscombe in Bournemouth, and Weymouth and Portland in the West of the county.

Life expectancy is slightly higher than the national average at 80.5 for males and 84.8 for females.

There are areas of high and low population densities with rural and urban areas, bringing different challenges with access to care. The overall population is more dispersed than the national average.

We have a higher proportion than the national average with long term health conditions (19.4% vs 17.6%) with vast differences between the healthy life years enjoyed by the most affluent compared to the most deprived (variance of 19 years). 3% of the overall population is from a minority ethnicity, and these are mostly concentrated in urban areas.

Table: Age ranges for those registered with a Dorset GP who have not opted out of their records being shared for secondary use purposes.

About the proposed service:

NHS Dorset is seeking market engagement on ophthalmology services to aid development of service specifications and commissioning plans. A high-level ophthalmology pathway has been mapped, and we are seeking knowledge and experience from the market to further understand capacity requirements and innovative ideas to enable delivery of services whilst supporting the three left shifts:

NHS Dorset is particularly interested to hear any solutions which safely move services from consultant-led care to other AHPs whilst ensuring good information transfer for those patients who require step-up and step-down care; and those which promote a risk-based approach to patient and capacity management without reducing patient safety or experience of care Any contract award will under the Provider Selection Regime regulations.