Health and social work services

Tender description

Kent County Council (the Council) is the largest County council in England covering an area of 3 500 square kilometres. It has an annual expenditure of over 900 000 000 GBP on goods and services and a population of 1 300 000. The Council provides a wide range of personal and strategic services on behalf of its residents, operating in partnership with 12 district Councils, 7 clinical commissioning groups and 289 parish/town councils. The Council has a statutory responsibility for Public Health and procures a number of services, which aim to improve the health of the population and reduce health inequalities across the County. The Council is responsible for commissioning sexual health services in Kent and is seeking to increase detection rates for Chlamydia amongst 15-24 year olds across the county. To help achieve this, we are commissioning 3 innovative programmes to drive up chlamydia detection rates among particular population groups. These programmes will be evaluated and will inform future needs assessments and service plans. The programmes will run for up to 18 months from October 2016 and will aim to: — Aim to increase detection of chlamydia infection; — Promote better awareness of chlamydia and the benefits of screening amongst 15-24 year olds; — Take a community development approach and engage with young people aged 15-24 who do not ordinarily access sexual health services; — Adopt innovative approaches to promote the benefits of chlamydia screening and encourage uptake of chlamydia tests; — Focus on instilling a sense of social responsibility for halting the spread of chlamydia infection; — Operate in partnership with the range of sexual health services in Kent. The programmes will be commissioned as 3 separate lots. The 3 programmes will be commissioned in the following geographical lots: Lot 1: Dartford, Gravesham and Swale; Lot 2: Dover, Shepway and Thanet; Lot 3: Maidstone, Tonbridge and Malling, Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks, Canterbury, Ashford. Background Information: The recorded detection rate of chlamydia in Kent in 2015 presented on CTAD amongst 15-24 year olds per 100 000 was 1 187. Our more recent activity information suggests that a more systematic and targeted programme in districts will deliver higher detection rates than currently being seen in 2016. The level of activity amongst 15, 16-19 and 20-24 year olds is different as are the levels of detection. The percentage of screens undertaken in the districts in 2015 ranged between 13,5 % and 21,6 % of the population of 15 -24 year olds. The higher detected positivity rates, 8 % and over, amongst 20-24 year olds are seen in Dartford, Dover, Shepway, Swale, Thanet and Tunbridge Wells. The higher detected positivity rates, 8 % and over, amongst 16-19 year olds are seen in Dover and Thanet. The Council's Public Health team commissions a county-wide Integrated Sexual Health Service. This service is provided by Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust in the West and North of Kent and Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust in the East of Kent. The services operate on a hub and spoke model. Hubs are based in Maidstone and Canterbury with super spokes based in Gravesend and Margate. Spoke services are located in Dover, Ashford, Shepway, Swale, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks and Dartford. This universal provision provides level 1, 2 and 3 Genito-Urinary Medicine (GUM) with contraception and sexual health services (CASH). Alongside this, HIV services are available in the hubs and super-spokes with some activity in spokes. Our county-wide Chlamydia Screening Programme is coordinated by Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust and is based in the Ashford spoke alongside the county-wide Condom Programme ‘Get It’. The provider will work in collaboration with and independently of the Integrated Sexual Health Services the Chlamydia Screening Programme facilitators and the Condom Programme. Tender Process: In relation to the Council's Public Health DPS notice number: 323771-2014 the Council has set up a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) for Public Health Services to allow the Council to buy Public Health Services from a list of approved providers who meet a certain minimum standards and agree to a common set of contractual terms. Should you wish to tender for this opportunity, you must apply to be part of the Public Health Services, DPS; questionnaire submissions to join the DPS and to be included in this tender opportunity must be submitted to the DPS no later than 24:00, Thursday, 1.9.2016. If you have already been accepted on to the Public Health Services DPS, you will automatically be sent a copy of the tender documentation when published via the Kent Business Portal when published after the 1.9.2016. You will then be emailed an Invitation to submit a Questionnaire to be added to the DPS. Further guidance regarding how to use this portal can be on the Kent Business portal. Questions and Communication: Please direct all questions and communication through the Kent Business Portal via the discussions facility.