SS15 92 - Carers Short Breaks Service

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Kent County Council SS15 92 Carers Short Breaks Service Summary: The Council is re-procuring the carers' short break service for carers of vulnerable adults. Carers are defined as an adult who provides or intends to provide care for another adult (an adult needing care). The carers short breaks service will promote and maintain carers' health and wellbeing through the delivery of replacement care. The service will enable carers to access a flexible crisis response to help avoid unnecessary admissions into hospital and care homes. It will enable carers to attend their own GP, hospital appointments and provide regular planned breaks to enable carers' to achieve their own outcomes. Kent County Council co-commissions carers' services with the seven Clinical Commissioning Groups, aiming to increase carer resilience and promote wellbeing through direct and indirect support. This service forms part of a menu of services available to support carers in their caring role and the service must be able to demonstrate understanding of carer specific needs and link the carer into the wider provision available as appropriate. The contract is anticipated to commence upon 1st May 2016 and will continue for a period of 11 months with an option to extend for a further period of 12 months unless terminated in accordance with the Conditions of Contract on the Kent Business Portal. The contract value per annum is £1,246,520 with and additional ring fenced fund of £113,400 for additional dementia crisis services in South Kent Coast and Thanet CCG. Background There is widely accepted evidence that carers contribute £119bn to the UK economy each year by supporting vulnerable people to remain outside of formal services for longer. A report by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services concluded: There is significant evidence that suggests that investment in carers' services to support them in their caring role is financially beneficial for social care and sees a significant return on any investment made. However we also know that carers are more likely to be in poor health themselves and to be economically deprived. The Kent Health and Wellbeing Strategy recognises the importance of maintaining carers to continue their caring roles and particularly highlights the need to support carers of people with dementia by increasing the numbers of them accessing short breaks. Event Anticipated Date Expression of Interest and Invitation to Tender 15/1/2016 - 15/2/2016 Evaluation Process 15/2/2016 - 19/2/2016 Contract Award 04/3/2016 - 14/3/2016 Mobilisation 14/03/2016 - 01/05/2016 Contract Start 01/05/2016