Provision of Asylum Seekers Workers to support Cardiff Health Access Practice and GP Practices

Tender description

The NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership, hosted by Velindre NHS Trust are acting on behalf of Cardiff and Vale University Local Health Board and Cardiff Local Authority who sought to establish a contract for the provision of Asylum Seekers Workers to support Cardiff Health Access Practice and GP Practices Based in South East Cardiff Cluster. Cardiff Health Access Practice (CHAP) is based in Cardiff Royal Infirmary. It provides a primary care service to vulnerable people in Cardiff who fall into two key groups: 1) Asylum seekers who are in Home Office Initial Accommodation (IA) awaiting confirmation of whether the Home Office will support them through their asylum application or appeal. 2) Vulnerable people accepted into the service, largely made up of failed asylum seekers who have not been able to register with other GP practices. Included in this group are a small number of asylum seekers who have moved out of IA but are clinically unstable. Cardiff South East Cluster consists of 8 GP practices. The aim of the cluster is to provide for the health and wellbeing needs of the local population. Given both the service provided by CHAP and the level of Asylum Seekers who reside within the boundary of South East Cardiff Cluster, a joint project opportunity has been identified in respect of improving the support provided to Asylum Seeker who attend CHAP and who are then required to register with GP Practices for ongoing care. Access to and use of healthcare services is often a challenge for this client group on arrival in Cardiff. These difficulties are due to language barriers, complexities with regards to provision and completion of the paperwork required to register with GP Practices and lack of understanding with regards to the plethora of health service provided within the UK. This sometimes leads to individuals being reluctant to rom the care of CHAP into GP practice. This situation is not good for individuals who cannot access the full range of health interventions from within CHAP and also, causes backlogs in the waiting list within CHAP. From a GP Practice perspective, they too would benefit from having a level of available expertise to support the registration of Asylum Seekers and also to ensure that this client groups is guided to use all available support services to meet their ongoing health and wellbeing needs. The contract is being offered in 2 Lots: Lot 1: The contract is seeking the provision of 1.5 wte Asylum Seeker Workers to be based in and work from the Cardiff Health Access Practice Lot 2: The contract is seeking the provision of 1.5 wte Asylum Seeker Workers to work at GP Practice level in SE Cardiff Cluster Organisations can bid for one or both lots.