Children & Young People MH, LD & Autism Taskforce Digital Patient Experience Tool

Tender description

Summary of the work The Taskforce requires a supplier with strong working knowledge of CAHMS Tier 4 services. Expected Contract Length 12 months Latest start date Monday 12 July 2021 Budget Range Maximum cost of £150,000 exc VAT Why the Work is Being Done The Children & Young People Taskforce was set up in response to several high-profile reports into the state of Children & Young People MH services in England. One key finding was that the experiences of patients within CAHMS Tier 4 settings was incredibly poor, with little understanding or acknowledgement of underlying problems within units; and limited opportunity for the voices of patients to be heard. The Taskforce aims to create a digital tool to allow patients to record and share their experiences and record data in real time which, in turn, will support units to improve their service outputs. Problem to Be Solved We know that the experience of Children & Young People in inpatient services is a significant quality measure, therefore we are looking to create a digital solution to allow patients to record their experiences, thus allowing their voices to be heard. This data should be stored in a secure environment which allows access to units, clinicians and NHS England but which cannot be tampered with or manipulated to mask performance deficiencies. The digital record of young people's experiences will provide commissioners with a direct link to the quality of inpatient CAHMS services. Who Are the Users As a CAHMS Tier 4 inpatient, I need to be able to record my thoughts/feelings/experiences in an independent and secure way, so that they can be taken into account as part of my care plan and provide insight to the Providers seeking to improve services. Early Market Engagement Some initial market engagement was undertaken, pre-Covid, in late 2019. The results of this indicated that such a tool/solution would be technologically possible. Work Already Done Some initial pre-discovery work explored the Questions “How do we hear the voice of our patients, carers, parents and potentially advocates?” the outcome of which is this tool. Existing Team The existing team comprises of a Clinical Lead and a Project Manager Current Phase Alpha Skills & Experience • At least 3 years expertise in iteratively, prototyping, designing and building services which meet both user needs and the GOV.UK guidelines for content design, service design and accessibility. • At least 3 years experience in administering common open source databases like Postgres, MongoDB, Redis etc. in a production environment. Please give examples. • Demonstrable experience of working in CAHMS Tier 4 MH settings. Please give examples. Nice to Haves • Demonstrable experience of working in Adult MH settings. • Experience supporting a production environment and supporting technical customers/users • Experience of identifying, managing and mitigating risks Work Location Leeds Working Arrangments The team can work in an agile way, suitable to gathering information and testing the final products in conjunction with Tier 4 Units. Security Clearance Each unit/department will have their own security policy and the successful supplier will need to comply accordingly. As a minimum they should expect to be escorted at all times. Additional T&Cs We will use the Standard Contract for this Agreement No. of Suppliers to Evaluate 3 Proposal Criteria • Understanding of Requirement • Approach to User Requirements • Approach to Programme Delivery Support • Experience • Project Plan and Timeframes • Delivery Team Cultural Fit Criteria • Work as Part of Team • Be Transparent and Collaborative • Share Knowledge and Experience • Challenge the Status Quo • Understand and Demonstrate NHS Values • Demonstrate innovation Payment Approach Fixed price Assessment Method Presentation Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 50% Cultural fit 20% Price 30% Questions from Suppliers 1. We expect that staff referral and recommendation to patients to use the tool will be an important part of the delivery. Additionally, collecting and engaging with the feedback from patients will be integral to service teams. What level of engagement and effort can be expected from an already very busy team of people? Does the discovery cover how staff would expect to engage with this tool? Due to commercial considerations the pre-discovery report will not be available until the successful supplier has been appointed. 2. In view of the pandemic, would the supplier expect alpha user testing to take place in person or online? Does the service have the capacity to manage and facilitate online/remote testing, and if not, how can the supplier support this – ie what steps would the supplier need to take to ensure that a team member can be approved for face to face in-patient engagement where appropriate? A mixture of both face-to-face and online sessions should be planned for but conducted within the Covid-19 guidelines at the time.Supplier and service engagement would determine the requirements for testing. 3. What level of access will the supplier have to user groups (patients, parents and clinicians) to help further inform the technologies to be designed and built? Or would participant recruitment need to be managed by the supplier? CYP engagement will be managed by NHS England and the successful bidder will be fully supported. 4. Will the discovery supplier be available to handover the existing work via a workshop? Due to commercial considerations the pre-discovery report will not be available until the successful supplier has been appointed. 5. How has the discovery phase of work helped to upskill the project team in GDS and user centred design principles, and at what level do the team feel they are currently at? How much further would the team like to progress in this area throughout the course of the project – eg becoming “confident” or “expert”? A clinical lead and project manager (with basic IT project management experience) is in place. Further development of working on an IT project will be welcomed. 6. Has the discovery phase identified hypotheses and assumptions – particularly which assumptions are the most high risk? Moving into the alpha phase, can we address the riskiest assumptions upfront to mitigate the identified risk as early as possible? The purpose of this tool is to give the CYP a voice. Risks will be identified as a result but this is not the primary driver for the need for this tool. 7. We would expect that a level of “incentivisation” would be required for patients to engage with the tool – this could be as simple as seeing the data outputs that they have contributed to. Do the user stories consider engagement and participation with the tool? Can the alpha phase involve hands-on testing and iteration to ensure engagement is a key focus? Yes, User Acceptance Testing (with patient and the NHSEI project team alike) is expected as part of the development of this tool. 8. Do outcomes from the discovery work provide all user stories (ie including those for staff and carers) – and therefore requirements – for the alpha phase? Due to commercial considerations the pre-discovery report will not be available until the successful supplier has been appointed. 9. As a CAMHS Tier 4 inpatient, I need to be able to record my thoughts/feelings/experiences in an independent and secure way, so that they can be taken into account as part of my care plan and provide insight to the Providers seeking to improve services.” How have the user stories been developed in the discovery work thus far in order for this statement to be reached? Due to commercial considerations the pre-discovery report will not be available until the successful supplier has been appointed. 10. What age group would this digital tool be aimed at? We understand there is only a small number of CAMHS Tier 4 Children’s units admitting under 13’s – would this tool cater for both under 13’s and 13-18 years old? Yes, it should be available for all under-18s. 11. Is any integration with a clinical record system expected, and if so what interoperability/integration options are currently available within the trust – eg APIs, FHIR/HL7 or RPA? This will be a national system, so there are potentially multiple different reporting systems used by the different Trusts. 12. Will the data sit within the CAMHS/Trust network or will a data storage facility need to be created? No, the data needs to be stored centrally, separately from any individual Trust/Provider. 13. Could you provide details of any agencies/partners that were involved in the discovery or pre-discovery phase for this tool? Due to commercial considerations the pre-discovery report will not be available until the successful supplier has been appointed. 14. Can this work be conducted remotely? Some elements can be done remotely, however there will be instances where face-to-face contact will be required. 15. Please confirm a more detailed technical scope of the tool to be delivered & milestones? The service specification will be developed with the successful bidder upon contract award. 16. Are the existing clinical lead and project manager delivering the project and an active part of this next phase directing/managing/supporting requirements from an external provider? How involved are they in the task for delivery in time commitments? A clinical lead and project manager will be available. 17. With the current CV-19 pandemic and guidance for digital remote working is the specified location as ‘Leeds’ a hard requirement of the tender or remote working with project based meetings acceptable to the existing team from a technical team based remotely? We are required to add a ‘base’ location. Flexible and remote working for project team meetings is acceptable, however some face-to-face sessions will be required. 18. Will this tool offer anonymous peer to peer support? Yes. 19. Will the provider/commissioners have direct access to the notes or will they be anonymised and reported? They should be anonymised for the purposes of commissioners/providers 20. Are the recording of thought/feelings/experiences guided in any way? Will there be certain questions asked by the system? OR is it totally free form for the patient to write whatever they wish? There would be certain topic headings, but the patients are free to write whatever it is they are feeling. 21. Can we access the taskforce report? We need to understand the best way to get patients to engage with the tool, free text versus guided scores, anonymous accounts versus profiled accounts. Due to commercial considerations the pre-discovery report will not be available until the successful supplier has been appointed. 22. Is there an email address for us to speak to someone directly about the project? There is some missing information in the brief we would need to clarify before confidently applying. No – all questions must be submitted via the Digital Marketplace. 23. Could you provide details of any agencies/partners that were involved in the discovery or pre-discovery phase for this tool? No – all questions must be submitted via the Digital Marketplace.Due to commercial considerations the pre-discovery report will not be available until the successful supplier has been appointed. 24. Can this work be conducted remotely? Some elements can be done remotely, however there will be instances where face-to-face contact will be required.