Critical Care Transfer Coordination Service (Call Handling) - East Midlands

Tender description

NHS Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (AGCSU), on behalf of NHS England (referred to as the Commissioner), is seeking to commission a suitably qualified and experienced provider to deliver the specialised critical care transfer co-ordination service (Call Handling) for the East Midlands Region through the publication of this ITT. <br/>The service provider will receive and coordinate all urgent and emergency requests via telephone and digital routes, for intra-uterine (IUT), Neonatal critical care (CenTre), Paediatric critical care (CoMET), and Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), for the East Midlands Region. Lot 1: Following a market engagement exercise which had a return date of 15th November 2023, Commissioners are now running an Invitation to Tender (ITT) process.<br/>The Service is required to meet the following needs: <br/>• To provide an expeditious 24/7 service that meets the quality schedule within the NHS Standard Contract for the management of all advice, facilitation of cot/bed locating where required, and/or transfer activity associated with IUT, Neonatal, Paediatric, and ECMO patients.<br/>• To record, index, retain, and access when required, all requests received or facilitated by the service via digital and/or telephone/conference calling safely and accurately in line with NHS records retention policies.<br/>• To provide accurate and timely information on all contacts (digital and/or telephone calls) managed as per the service specification and the information schedule (Schedule 6 within the NHS Standard Contract).<br/><br/>Commissioned Provider(s) must be able to meet all of the following key criteria:<br/>• The ability to work with service leads to manage and coordinate requests for advice, cot/bed locating, and/or transport 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year in accordance with agreed quality and performance indicators for the services referred to above. <br/>• Robust business continuity plans to ensure delivery of a safe service 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.<br/>• To have robust capacity and demand policies to manage any planned or unplanned surge in activity.<br/>• The ability to accurately record reliable activity information on all requests as per the service specification and described within the NHS Standard Contract. <br/>• The ability to digitally record, safely store, index, retrieve, and retain all requests (whatever format) received or made in or out of the services in accordance with NHS record retention policies and protocols. <br/>• Evidence of being able to work collaboratively and cooperatively with NHS and Non-NHS providers / stakeholders to improve patient experience and safety.<br/>• The ability to work with stakeholders to enhance and improve the service provision and delivery over the length of the contract. <br/>• The ability to provide a reliable and secure communication (telephony, digital conferencing, and digital messaging) conduit for all requests between general hospitals, specialist treatment centres (Providers) and transport services.<br/>• To have full support of their Board to provide this service in accordance with the NHS Standard Contract.<br/>• This is an Administrative Service and does not require clinical qualifications. However, the Service Provider staff should have a basic understanding of the Clinical Services as it will involve communicating and facilitating discussions between clinicians.<br/>• To be able to deliver this service safely and effectively from the contract start date of 1st November 2024 until 31st October 2029 and there is an option to extend the contract for up to a further 12 months.