Cambridgeshire County Council - opportunity for Care Home providers to extend capacity in Cambridgeshire

Tender description

Cambridgeshire is currently facing an increasing challenge to meet the current and future needs of its expanding population of older people. We have identified that there is currently a 450 shortfall of beds in the market place which will be met by the three work streams as outlined below. There are severe pressures on the Council’s statutory services and accommodation provision for older people, which is in turn putting pressure on financial budgets. With increases in population and inflation there will be a significant shortfall in suitable accommodation if the way in which services are delivered do not change. The Council must therefore transform its accommodation strategy for older people. Cambridgeshire County Council has identified a significant shortage of residential and nursing care provision throughout the County and is looking to secure long-term, good quality, affordable placements. In order to address the gap in provision, the Council has identified the following three work streams: 1. Maximise capacity for Council provision through the extended use of block contracts; 2. Commissioning arrangements with providers to extend capacity in Cambridgeshire; 3. Delivery model to develop additional residential and nursing beds within new residential and nursing home provision within Cambridgeshire. The Council has significant financial flexibility to borrow to invest in capital schemes which align with its objectives. We would be interested in discussing with providers where a competitive loan financing arrangement from CCC, alongside the certainty of a revenue stream from block bed purchasing, could enable a provider to expand its bed capacity at their existing locations. In exchange for this the county council would anticipate commissioning affordable beds over the duration of the contract. The terms of any loan from Council (size of loan, repayment term, and interest level) would form part of the commercial arrangements to be agreed with a supplier who could use the loan to expand its bed capacity. By way of initial background, the Council has a capital spending programme exceeding £700m over the next five years and is able to continuously access competitive loan financing via the Public Works Loan Board. Costs of assets are typically defrayed over a period of up to 35 years. This opportunity is with regards to work stream 2 where the Council is interested in hearing from Care Home providers who are interested in or have plans to increase capacity in Cambridgeshire. To express an interest, please complete the attached questionnaire and return to transformation.team@cambridgeshire.gov.uk by Friday 5th January 2018. Keywords: Older People, Residential, Nursing, Care Home