Health services

Tender description

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust (YAS) on behalf of the Yorkshire and Humber Clinical Commissioning Groups (our Commissioners) are seeking to establish a framework of skilled, high quality providers to supply clinical validations and clinical advice by telephone as part of the regional NHS111/Integrated Urgent Care (IUC) service. YAS hold the regional contract to deliver core NHS111/IUC services, this contract was established in 2018 and spans until 2024, with the potential for a further 2-year extension until 31 March 2026. There is an ongoing need to commission/subcontract additional telephone clinical services to work in close collaboration with the YAS IUC service. The IUC clinical service framework aims to engage providers in two key areas of the regional Integrated Urgent Care pathway 1) telephone clinical validations, 2) telephone clinical advice services (CAS). YAS aims to launch its framework procurement in the coming weeks. Please see further details below, and note: ‘The trust plans to hold a bidders event on 18 November’. This is to provide further detail of the framework proposals and to receive feedback from potential framework providers. We are therefore seeking informal expressions of interest from potential providers, and would welcome any comments to assist in the further refinement of the framework arrangements. We are particularly interested in: • general feedback on the proposals from provider partners; • are there areas of support (e.g. sharing technical infrastructure) that YAS could offer that would enable local CAS providers, increase collaboration or improve quality/consistency across the pathway? *Informal expressions of interest and any comments on the proposal are invited from now until 27 November. Responses should be made to the In-Tend portal as directed above, with a copy by email to: Robert.Langthorne@nhs.net Please note: YAS is issuing this notice as a request for information only. This notice does not represent an invitation to tender, nor is it a request for formal expressions of interest. The market engagement event and any associated documentation issued do not form any part of an invitation to tender. Any organisation or individual attending the engagement event is doing so to support market research only and to help make the potential commissioning process more focused and efficient. No supplier selection or supplier preference is implied. Any information provided by YAS about the requirement and procurement process to be followed is indicative only, and subject to change/confirmation. Potential responders will not be prejudiced in any future procurement processes by either responding or not responding to this soft market engagement exercise. Telephone clinical validations: • working as a direct subcontractor to the Yorkshire Ambulance Service to provide clinical validation where, following assessment by a Health Advisor using NHS Pathways, the disposition is emergency department (ED); helping to fulfil the regional requirement to clinically validate > 50% of these ED referrals; • potential provider partners are expected to have operational and technological systems in place to achieve the key operational requirements of the IUC system and deliver high quality services that comply with the requirements of the National IUC Service specification https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Integrated-Urgent-Care-Service-Specification.pdf • it is anticipated that an immediate call-off will be made against the new framework to secure ED validation capacity for 2021/22 (commencing 1 April 2021); with further call-offs made as required over the duration of the framework to support the ongoing needs of the IUC service. Provisional estimated annual value is circa GBP 700 000. • YAS and its commissioners are seeking to identify partner providers who are able to supply telephone clinical advice as part of the Yorkshire and Humber Virtual Clinical Advice Service (CAS); • providers will be expected to comply with the requirements of the national IUC service specification and related national guidance; with an appropriately skilled workforce operating under robust clinical governance; • as part of the regional IUC pathway, CAS framework providers will need to engage and work collaboratively with the core IUC service as well as commissioners and local services within the three Yorkshire and Humber Integrated Care Systems (ICS); • we anticipate that the clinical advice service element of the framework will be directly accessible to all Yorkshire and Humber NHS Commissioners, as well as YAS, to offer commissioners a simple route to procure local CAS services from a group of high quality providers.