Catering services

Tender description

Solent NHS Trust specialises in the delivery of community and mental health services across Portsmouth, Southampton and Hampshire. The Trust currently operates an in house catering service for patients and staff / visitors, catering for approximately 250 in patients across locations in Portsmouth and Southampton, and two patient / staff retail outlets, one at St Mary's Community Health Campus in Portsmouth and one at the Western Community Hospital in Southampton. For operational reasons, the Trust's existing Central Production Unit (CPU) will close in 2019. The purpose of this procurement is to outsource the existing catering service to an external service delivery organisation in order to maintain continuity of service delivery and quality once the existing CPU closes. It is anticipated that the new contract will commence in early 2019. The Trust is seeking to procure a delivery partner to take over the existing in house provision of in-patient catering services (approx. 252 beds) across locations in Portsmouth and Southampton and staff / visitor restaurants at St Mary's Community Health Campus in Portsmouth and the Western Community Hospital in Southampton. The existing provision covers approximately 134 in-patient beds across five locations in Portsmouth, 46 in-patient beds at the Western Community Hospital in Southampton, and 72 in-patient beds at the Royal South Hants Hospital also in Southampton. In addition the Trust also operates a staff restaurant at St Mary's Community Health Campus in Portsmouth, serving approximately 150 meals per day, and another staff / visitor restaurant at the Western Community Hospital serving approximately 50 meals per day. The Trust is seeking to appoint a delivery partner to take over the catering service to ensure continuity of supply following the closure of the existing Central Production Unit in 2019. It is anticipated that existing staff involved in the catering service will transfer to the delivery organisation under first generation TUPE arrangements, and that the future delivery partner will comply with the NHS Agenda for Change requirements. It is anticipated that the successful delivery partner will need access to appropriate receipt and distribution facilities for frozen, chilled and ambient goods to service both the Portsmouth and Solent estates. These facilities do not currently exist within the trust. The existing kitchens at St Mary's Community Health campus and the Western Community Hospital have been identified as suitable for reconfiguration to create the necessary facilities, should these be required. Floor plans will be provided indicating the available space. Bidders will be asked to develop detailed designs and costing for any capital works they anticipate will be needed to deliver the services required. The redevelopment of the existing kitchens at St Marys and the Western, will impact on the existing staff restaurant capabilities. Bidders will be asked to develop proposals for revised staff restaurant facilities that no longer rely on these kitchens, and that can be accommodated within a smaller footprint. In Portsmouth, cook chill meals are prepared at the St James CPU before being distributed in dollies to the various locations in the city. The dollies are loaded into programmable Burlodge trollies for regeneration at ward level. All wards are equipped with Burlodge regeneration units. In Southampton, the Western Community Hospital kitchen provides daily fresh cooked food for the wards on that site. The wards at the Royal South Hants have been supplied with cook freeze meals provided by Appetito since April 2017. Patient feedback for this product has been very positive. Catering services must be delivered in accordance with current NHS best practice and the Trust's own Nutrition and Hydration Policy, and allow for specialist diets and textures in accordance with clinical and cultural requirements for our patients. Food quality and the meeting of patient needs are prime drivers for this procurement and will be a key factor in the selection process. The Trust currently scores very highly on the national catering league tables. The maintenance of sustainable high quality standards for our service will be a key consideration in this procurement.