Health and social work services

Tender description

NHS England South East (Kent, Surrey, Sussex) is seeking Expressions of Interest (EOI) from providers who have the capability and capacity to undertake a contract for the provision of a Diabetic Eye Screening Programme (DESP) in Kent and Medway, and would wish to take to part in a potential procurement exercise. The procurement is envisaged to take place between October and December 2018 and the contract is anticipated to begin in October 2019. A separate advert will be published to alert interested parties when the tender documentation is available. NHS England South East (Kent, Surrey, Sussex) is seeking Expressions of Interest (EOI) from providers who have the capability and capacity to undertake a contract for the provision of a Diabetic Eye Screening Programme (DESP) in Kent and Medway, and would wish to take to part in a potential procurement exercise. The procurement is envisaged to take place between October and December 2018 and the contract is anticipated to begin in October 2019. A separate advert will be published to alert interested parties when the tender documentation is available. The anticipated contract duration will be 5 years with an annual value in the region of 2 300 000 GBP. The contract will serve a population of around 1 800 000, of whom c. 100 729 are eligible (being individuals over the age of 12 currently identified as diabetics in need of screening). Currently about 80 % of people invited attend for screening. National DESP Guidance estimates a potential 5 % growth per annum in the number of people diagnosed with diabetes and approximately 2 % of the population in Kent and Medway who may be as yet undiagnosed. The service provider(s) will need to be adaptable to any new elements or changes to the national programme. The successful bidder will be required to implement the change to extended screening intervals for the low risk population as outlined by the 2016 UK NSC recommendation. The successful bidder will be required to deliver a screening programme which is fully compliant with all relevant national standards and pathways and which include the following elements: — identification and invitation of the eligible diabetic population for screening at regular / appropriate intervals (i.e. call / recall) in accordance with national guidance, — taking and grading of digital images of service users’ eyes, — provision of Digital Surveillance Clinics, Slit Lamp Biomicroscopy (SLB) and capacity to deliver Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) assessments within the commissioned service, — referral of service users to appropriate Hospital Eye Services/Treatment Services in accordance with nationally agreed protocols and treatment pathways. The population expected to be served by the programme is that covered by the 8 CCGs in the Kent and Medway Sustainable Transformation Partnership (West Kent, Medway, Ashford, Canterbury and Coastal, Thanet, Dartford Gravesham and Swanley, South Kent Coast and Swale). NHS England reserves the right not to increase the footprint but to carry out individual procurements where they believe this will be in the best interests of patients and patient choice. This procurement is being carried out by NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit (SCWCSU) on behalf of the Commissioner. If you wish to express an interest in taking part in a future procurement exercise to identify a provider to deliver these services in Kent and Medway, please register on the In-Tend portal and submit a completed Provider Sounding Questionnaire by 12:00 pm on Thursday 2.8.2018.