Market Engagement to explore the provision of a dedicated temporary assessment unit to cater for people with additional needs.

Tender description

Suffolk County Council wish to undertake Market Engagement to explore the provision of a dedicated temporary assessment unit to cater for people with additional needs. The aim of this service is to work with people with significant additional needs and behaviours that challenge, and to provide care and support that is focused on stabilising behaviour to settle people for an assessment of long-term care needs. This will include assisting with any onward transition to long term provision with other care providers. This model is about partnerships between individuals and organisations to ensure that services are person centred, promote faster recovery from illness, prevent unnecessary acute hospital admission, support timely discharge, and maximise independent living. The service provision for The Ipswich & East Locality is for nursing and residential placements with a minimum of 30 beds in one location and be no further than 20 miles/30 minutes from Ipswich Hospital Acute Trust. The service provision for the West Locality is for care home nursing and residential placements with a minimum of 5 beds and a maximum of 10 beds. For further information on the market engagement exercise please contact: Katiana.picolli@suffolk.gov.uk before 28th February 2024. Lot 1: Description of the procurement (Max. 4000 characters) (Short description above can be repeated if required) The service should facilitate the transition to improved independence, where possible, so that the person may return to their usual place of residence at the end of the assessment period, or to a new care setting that is able to meet the individual's care needs in the least restrictive way. Our practice model is to work with people using an asset-based approach, building on their strengths and agreeing goals for individuals that lead to greater levels of independence and self-care. We would expect providers to work in line with the Suffolk D2A principles; our goal is to maximise the persons potential to live as independently as possible and achieve their longer-term goals. Providers would be required to work through an initial assessment which will set specific goals for the persons onward development towards greater independence; agree ways in which those goals could be achieved, including incremental progress towards those goals; monitor progress frequently and regularly, adjust activity throughout the assessment period as needed. Providers would need to participate in and contribute to an MDT approach to support good care management at the facility and contribute to forward planning for moves to long term care provision. For Ipswich and East Locality, the model will require a minimum bed capacity of 30 and all beds must be in one location. The service provision for the West Locality is for care home nursing and residential placements with a minimum of 5 beds and a maximum of 10 beds. Should bed occupancy be at a lower level for a prolonged period, discussions would take place on how to utilise any spare capacity to deliver flexible options based on demand. The environment must be able to flex to allow a 'no refusal' for referrals. For example, the ability to have smaller separate units for specific cohorts of people. The service provider should have experience in delivering care for people with significant additional needs especially regarding mental health, dementia and challenging behaviours.