Survey services

Tender description

The Care Quality Commission ("CQC") is seeking to re-procure its future NHS Patient Survey Programme requirements. CQC is responsible for delivering this programme on behalf of NHS England and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). This programme is a central aspect of CQC's strategy for 2016 — 2021, and consists of five national and official statistics which are regulated under the Office of National Statistics Code of Practice. It is the single largest reliable source of evidence on people's experience of care in acute and community mental health sectors. Data from the programme is a key way to provide information to Healthcare Commissioners and care providers to support improvement and understand impacts of national policy on people's experiences of care. The programme will be delivered by an set of independent Co-ordination Centres and a set of contractors on a Framework Agreement which NHS Trusts are able to contract with locally to deliver their survey requirements. CQC collects, analyses and uses a range of intelligence that can inform us about people’s experiences of care. Part of that information comes from people who have recently used specific NHS services and are asked about their experiences as part of a NHS Patient Survey Programme delivered by CQC (see definitions below regarding national survey). The programme is designed to capture the views of representative samples of patients in a systematic way from all eligible NHS trusts in England. Each survey contains a set of questions that is designed and tested to provide insight into people’s experiences and to highlight areas where individual providers could improve how they provide services. The programme currently includes annual surveys of adult inpatients and community mental health services. CQC also undertakes three acute surveys on a biennial schedule: maternity services, emergency department services and children’s and young people’s inpatient and day case services. Information on all of these surveys is available on the 2 websites stated below. Typically, the surveys are sent to a sample of between 850 – 1 250 patients, who meet specific eligibility criteria, per provider. The sample is drawn from people who have experienced care in a specified month, or months, and on average between 25% and 50% of eligible patients respond. The results of these surveys, including local and national reports, are published on CQC’s own website and NHS Surveys along with the guidance and tools used to deliver the survey. The strategic direction for the NHS Patient Survey Programme for the period covered by this procurement process sets out CQC’s proposals to develop the programme in three main ways: (i) create a digital method of survey delivery utilising mobile phones and potentially email addresses. The digital solution will be part of a mixed methods approach to surveys which will reduce the costs of running the programme for trusts and allow us to, potentially, increase frequency and sample sizes with minimal cost impact; (ii) support CQC’s next phase approach (see, for example, the consultation response for the first wave on our website) for regulating providers where CQC has already inspected and rated every provider by potentially allowing CQC to increase the frequency of surveys and sample sizes; (iii) review opportunities for collecting people’s views on the quality of new care models as they emerge or on the quality of care in local areas and health systems. CQC is seeking to appoint a Contractor to deliver a Co-Ordination Centre service and to act as an expert partner in the development and delivery of CQC’s NHS Patient Survey Programme. The Co-ordination Centre works, on contract, directly with CQC and other commissioners to deliver and continuously improve the national surveys and survey products, by (i) working with commissioners to deliver surveys and survey products including, for example, undertaking development work and pilots, providing expertise on methods and processes, analysing data, and producing outputs, and (ii) support, and work with, Approved Contractors to deliver surveys locally, for example through the development of guidance, webinars and central checks on samples. CQC expects the anticipated programme cost envelope will be 1 067 000 GBP per annum. This is split between both the Co-ordination Centre for Existing Methods (Lot 1) and the Co-ordination Centre for Mixed Methods (Lot 2), ith costs allocated to Lot 1 being higher in year one than subsequent years as CQC implements its strategy for the programme. However, as this contract will be utilised on a Call-Off basis, CQC does not guarantee any work either to providers of services or from other commissioners and requirements may be called-off as and when required by commissioners. Please also note that CQC may procure additional services through the contract to accommodate programme enhancements (survey volume, frequency or coverage). CQC collects, analyses and uses a range of intelligence that can inform us about people’s experiences of care. Part of that information comes from people who have recently used specific NHS services and are asked about their experiences as part of a NHS Patient Survey Programme delivered by CQC (see definitions below regarding national survey). The programme is designed to capture the views of representative samples of patients in a systematic way from all eligible NHS trusts in England. Each survey contains a set of questions that is designed and tested to provide insight into people’s experiences and to highlight areas where individual providers could improve how they provide services. The programme currently includes annual surveys of adult inpatients and community mental health services. CQC also undertakes three acute surveys on a biennial schedule: maternity services, emergency department services and children’s and young people’s inpatient and day case services. Information on all of these surveys is available on the two websites stated below. Typically, the surveys are sent to a sample of between 850 – 1 250 patients, who meet specific eligibility criteria, per provider. The sample is drawn from people who have experienced care in a specified month, or months, and on average between 25% and 50% of eligible patients respond. The results of these surveys, including local and national reports, are published on CQC’s own website and NHS Surveys along with the guidance and tools used to deliver the survey. The strategic direction for the NHS Patient Survey Programme for the period covered by this procurement process sets out CQC’s proposals to develop the programme in three main ways: (i) create a digital method of survey delivery utilising mobile phones and potentially email addresses. The digital solution will be part of a mixed methods approach to surveys which will reduce the costs of running the programme for trusts and allow us to, potentially, increase frequency and sample sizes with minimal cost impact; (ii) support CQC’s next phase approach (see, for example, the consultation response for the first wave on our website) for regulating providers where CQC has already inspected and rated every provider by potentially allowing CQC to increase the frequency of surveys and sample sizes; (iii) review opportunities for collecting people’s views on the quality of new care models as they emerge or on the quality of care in local areas and health systems. CQC is seeking to appoint a Contractor to deliver a Co-Ordination Centre service and to act as an expert partner in the development and delivery of CQC’s NHS Patient Survey Programme. The Co-ordination Centre works, on contract, directly with CQC and other commissioners to deliver and continuously improve the national surveys and survey products, by (i) working with commissioners to deliver surveys and survey products including, for example, undertaking development work and pilots, providing expertise on methods and processes, analysing data, and producing outputs, and (ii) support, and work with, Approved Contractors to deliver surveys locally, for example through the development of guidance, webinars and central checks on samples. CQC expects the anticipated programme cost envelope will be 1 067 000 GBP per annum. This is split between both the Co-ordination Centre for Existing Methods (Lot 1) and the Co-ordination Centre for Mixed Methods (Lot 2), ith costs allocated to Lot 1 being higher in year one than subsequent years as CQC implements its strategy for the programme. However, as this contract will be utilised on a Call-Off basis, CQC does not guarantee any work either to providers of services or from other commissioners and requirements may be called-off as and when required by commissioners. Please also note that CQC may procure additional services through the contract to accommodate programme enhancements (survey volume, frequency or coverage). CQC collects, analyses and uses a range of intelligence that can inform us about people’s experiences of care. Part of that information comes from people who have recently used specific NHS services and are asked about their experiences as part of a NHS Patient Survey Programme delivered by CQC (see definitions below regarding national survey). The programme is designed to capture the views of representative samples of patients in a systematic way from all eligible NHS trusts in England. Each survey contains a set of questions that is designed and tested to provide insight into people’s experiences and to highlight areas where individual providers could improve how they provide services. The programme currently includes annual surveys of adult inpatients and community mental health services. CQC also undertakes three acute surveys on a biennial schedule: maternity services, emergency department services and children’s and young people’s inpatient and day case services. Information on all of these surveys is available on the two websites stated below. Typically, the surveys are sent to a sample of between 850 – 1,250 patients, who meet specific eligibility criteria, per provider. The sample is drawn from people who have experienced care in a specified month, or months, and on average between 25% and 50% of eligible patients respond. The results of these surveys, including local and national reports, are published on CQC’s own website and NHS Surveys along with the guidance and tools used to deliver the survey. CQC is seeking to appoint a number of Contractors to form an Approved Contractor Framework, and to work with and provide a range of survey-related services to Commissioners when contracted to do so. The approved contractors work, on contract, directly with providers of services registered with CQC and other commissioners, including CQC. The purpose of Approved Contractors is to ensure that providers are able to undertake national surveys by providing the required skills and expertise to draw samples, distributing and collecting questionnaires and analysing results on behalf of providers; and. Ensure that other commissioners (see below) are able to pilot approaches to improving surveys, and other specific work as required. In some cases the Approved Framework may be used by other organisations and bodies to commission national surveys. As this is a framework agreement, CQC does not guarantee any work either from providers of services or other commissioners through this framework and requirements may be called-off as and when required by commissioners. CQC envisages selecting between 4 and 10 Approved Contractors but will determine the exact number of selected contractors based upon the evaluation of all tender submissions. CQC expects that Approved Contractors will work, on contract, with providers of services and commissioning authorities to deliver national surveys and survey-related work. Approved contractors will be supported by CQC, the Co-ordination Centre or Commissioning Authorities to deliver programmes of work in line with appropriate guidance and using any identified tools and methods as needed. Approved Contractors will work with Co-ordination Centre for Existing Methods (Lot 1) to ensure the continued delivery of the paper-based survey programme and the Co-ordination Centre for Mixed Methods (Lot 2) to take forward a mixed methods approach to delivering national surveys and associated work. CQC expects that, over the period of the Approv. Costs will vary depending on the scope of the contracts set with registered providers locally, but are are expected to be between 3 000 GBP and 5 000 GBP per survey per provider. The value of the framework overall, based on 13 surveys with a range of providers eligible to participate is expected to be between c. 5 000 000 GBP and c. 8 000 000 GBP. However, please note that this volume and value of work is indicative and not guranteed by CQC.