Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) for West Essex (Modification Notice)

Tender description

Lot 1: The contract for the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Services for West Essex was awarded to Vita Health Solutions via a competitive procurement process. The contract award notice was published in OJEU on 2 March 2021. The casual connection between poverty, unemployment and social isolation and common mental health difficulties is well evidenced. Commissioners have therefore taken an innovative and positive new approach that locates the mandated clinical IAPT interventions within the wider socio-economic context in which the service and its users exist. It is expected that, through a strong outward-focus and the establishment of formal referral connections to and from a wide range of existing provision across the area, within limited resources, the clinical IAPT interventions will be better supported to maximise their effectiveness and sustainability and improve service user outcomes. The outward-looking ethos of this service will require a holistic assessment that understands psychological issues in the wider context in which they exist. A wholly clinical assessment will not be enough to gain such an understanding of each person and could lead to failure to pick up on important factors that cause or influence the presenting issue. The national expectations of the IAPT service delivery are documented within the IAPT Manual and further developed in the Positive Practice Guides. These national documents must be used to inform the core delivery of the service. West Essex CCG has also developed its own local specification which does not rewrite the requirements and good practice guidance of these documents, but rather reinforces them and expects that they are used throughout. The Manual describes the complexities involved in delivering an effective IAPT service, and Commissioners have built on it and the suite of Positive Practice Guides to construct their local specification. Therefore, the scope of the services must be delivered in line with the IAPT Manual and the local specification of West Essex CCG.