Health and social work services

Tender description

Intensive Enablement Accommodation Service Hertfordshire County Council (the "Council") is carrying out Pre-Procurement Market Engagement ("PPME") in relation to the existing rehabilitation housing for adults with mental health needs in Higgins Walk, Stevenage, and in relation to proposals to commission additional site(s) in Hertfordshire in which to deliver similar services. The Council will consider the feedback received to help inform the Council’s options and further decision making. For the avoidance of doubt, this stage of the project is not part of a formal procurement process and the Council is not committing, at this stage, to carrying out such a process. Participation or non-participation in the PPME shall not prevent any supplier participating in a potential future procurement, nor is it intended that any information supplied as part of the PPME shall place any supplier at an advantage in a potential procurement process. Participation in the PPME will be at each organisation’s own cost. No expense in responding to this PPME will be reimbursed by the Council. In November 2019, the service contract for the 14 bed rehabilitation housing service in Higgins Walk, Stevenage, will come to an end. This is an opportunity to review and design how this and similar services will be provided to ensure the provision is suitable for the coming years. The draft service specification outlines the strategic role that rehabilitation housing plays within the mental health services landscape. It is a key enabler for ensuring people can be discharged from inpatient settings, for supporting people to learn or re-learn daily living skills enabling them to move on to other models of supported and general housing, and for preventing further loss of independence for people at risk of going into crisis. In addition to the provision of intensive enablement support to promote independence in daily life, the provider(s) will provide a full housing management service for the site(s), including buildings and grounds maintenance, repairs, rent collection, health and safety compliance and other functions normally discharged by a housing provider. This will be funded from housing benefit received for the residents. Rehabilitation housing services can improve service users’ quality of life, support them to participate in their community, ease the pressure on community mental health and primary care services, and free up inpatient services so that they can respond better when people need them. Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust and the Council are working together to explore options for continuing and growing this provision in Hertfordshire, so that it better meets both the volume and geographic spread of demand. Demand analysis suggests that in addition to the 14 bed service in Stevenage, a further 14-20 beds in Hertfordshire are required in order to meet demand over the coming 5-10 year period.