Integrated Community Equipment Loan Service for Essex

Tender description

Notice of award by Essex County Council for the Integrated Community Equipment Loan Service for Essex (ICELS) commencing July 2023 for an initial 5-year period (with a further extension option of up to 2 years) for the benefit of the Consortium. The Council is the lead organisation for the Consortium which is currently made up of the Council and the Partners identified in section VI.3 of this notice. The Consortium works together under partnership arrangements under the National Health Service Act 2006 and the Local Government Act 1972 (as applicable to the relevant Partner) to provide community equipment services to Essex residents who are eligible under the Health and Social Care Act 2006 and the Care Act 2014 (as applicable to the relevant Partner) across the administrative areas of the Consortium in Essex. To be noted that delivery of the Services extends to a wider geographic area to facilitate where service users may be located. Enabling people to remain independent, and to live as full a life as they can in their own home, is fundamental to the Consortium’s approach to supporting people. One of the principal ways that the Consortium does this is with the provision of equipment to people of all ages and needs across the administrative areas of the Consortium in Essex. The ICELS for Essex provides equipment on loan to people living in the community, based on clinical or assessed need, to enable them to do tasks they would otherwise be unable to do and/or to provide support to a Carer or care worker (including family members), to enable care and support to happen where required. The ICELS aims to: • enable and support people to live, age and die well. • provide the right solution, at the right time, in the right place, the first time. Lot 1: Essex County Council on behalf of the Consortium invited tenders in November 2022 for provision of an integrated community equipment loan service for people of all ages and needs across Essex, providing such items as commodes, beds, shower chairs and hoists, as well as adaptations such as grab rails and chair raisers in line with the requirements set out in the Contract and Service Specification. This service will be for an initial 5-year term, with an option to extend for up to a further 2 years, with services commencing in July 2023. The community equipment service complements other Health and Social Care services, such as reablement and domiciliary care and support. The aim of all these services is to promote independence and enable people to gain, regain and maintain skills, as well as helping to prevent hospital admissions. This accords strongly with the Council’s ‘Everyone’s Essex’ ambition of promoting health, care, and wellbeing for all ages, as well as the Council’s aims around levelling up. It does this by promoting independence and healthy lifestyles, levelling up health, supporting carers, improving outcomes for vulnerable adults and children, encouraging green growth (minimising waste and increasing recycling of equipment) and strengthening family resilience and stability. The non-exhaustive list of activities to deliver a core service are as set out below, and defined within the Contract and Service Specification: • Sourcing, purchasing and storage of equipment including management of stock; • Delivery, installation and fitting of equipment; • Approved Assessor assessment service for low-level items; • Collection of equipment from service users when no longer required; • Counter service for the collection and return of equipment, demonstration of equipment or clinical assessment; • Adaptations; • Maintenance and repair/refurbishment of equipment, including scheduled testing and servicing (e.g., LOLER, PAT, etc.); • Cleaning and decontamination of returned equipment; • Ceiling track hoist assessments, installations, repairs, replacement, maintenance and removal; • Moving or relocating equipment within or between someone’s home(s) e.g. upstairs to downstairs or to a new property; • Reporting and management of any situations of concern or safeguarding; • Maintenance of accurate information and asset management records on stock, procurement, warranties, maintenance, cleaning etc providing suitable transparency to for the Consortium; • Facilitation of new product evaluation, demonstrations and clinical trials for the Consortium; • Assessment and reduction of non-recyclable and single use items over the life of the contract; • Engaging with stakeholders supporting the health and social care system in Essex. Notwithstanding the indicative contract value, the services the subject matter of this contract are demand-based services with no guarantee of equipment or activity volumes or inflation uplifts at any point during the term.