Health and social work services

Tender description

Norfolk County Council (NCC) is seeking to commission a number of enhanced short term beds (residential) to support hospital discharges during the winter period and is seeking expressions of interest from providers who have capacity in the market to support the requirements set out in this document. NCC wants to commission a mix of block and spot bed provision to provide capacity to commence as soon as possible and remain in place until 31 March 2021. We wish to commission bed provision across Norfolk, to support all three Norfolk acute hospital systems. NCC wish to engage with providers who can offer short term beds provide a service to individuals discharged from hospital, who require a short term period of care and further assessment. During the Winter period, additional beds are required to support hospital discharges and to ensure there is available bed capacity in hospital settings. Individuals are usually only supported within short term beds for up to 6 weeks and there is dedicated operational team in place who support individuals to move on in a safe and timely manner. As NCC is seeking to commission additional enhanced short term bed capacity, providers will need to be CQC registered for dementia and should be able to support individuals with moderate to high dementia needs. We would anticipate that the vast majority of referrals into these beds would be to support hospital discharges. However, some individuals may require urgent/unplanned respite. Contract Requirements 1) All referrals to Winter Capacity beds will be made through NCC’s Brokerage Service; 2) Providers must be able to meet the 2 hour response time when approached by Brokerage; 3) Providers must be able to support quick hospital discharge; 4) The weekly bed price will be NCC’s Enhanced Usual Price; 5) For Block provision only, a contract clause will apply which relates to care home closure. Should a care home close for a lockdown period due to Covid-19 cases, NCC would pay for the first 14 days of any lockdown period. Should the lockdown period extend beyond 14 days, NCC would only pay for occupied block beds; 6) For spot provision, NCC is seeking to develop a preferred provider list to commission Winter Capacity beds on a spot basis. All of the requirements shown above would be applicable to spot provision; 7) Winter Capacity beds will only be commissioned until 31 March 2021.