NHS Medway CCG: Community Vasectomy Service AQP

Tender description

This notice relates to the procurement of a community AQP vasectomy service for NHS Medway CCG (the Commissioner). The Commissioner is a group of 58 GP practices from across the Medway towns, serving a practice population of 283,000. The Commissioner is supported in this project by KMCS (the CSU) and its procurement partner NHS Commercial Solutions (NCS), which is managing this procurement. To provide a quality and safe one or two stage, no-scalpel technique vasectomy under local anaesthetic in accordance with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologist guidelines (2004, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists) in a primary care setting to adult males assessed as appropriate for the procedure. Vasectomy is a procedure that stops sperm from travelling to the testis through the cutting of the vas. It is recommended by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists as the preferred method of sterilisation for men. It is a minor procedure that takes around 15 minutes and is very safe in competent hands. The failure rate of vasectomy is very low (1 in 2000) after clearance has been given Vasectomy carries a lower failure in terms of post-procedure pregnancies and there is less risk related to the procedure than female sterilisation. Sterilisation can be an empowering decision for the right person at the right time however it is intended to be permanent meaning that the onus is on the health care practitioners involved to ensure that the Service User has all the information required in order to make an informed choice. In securing services under the AQP, the authority needs assurance of competence, quality and safety standards just as it would for services secured under a formal tender process. Any provider will be eligible to join the qualified provider list subject to demonstrating competency against specified criteria. Qualified providers will be expected to deliver the service under the NHS Standard Contract.