United Kingdom-West Bromwich: Health services – Framework Lead

The current contract for Health services – Framework Lead is projected to end on 14-MAY-23 and may be available for retender. Urgent Care Centres (UCC), Out of hours (OOH), Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) Services and a Pathways Alternative to Transport Service (PATS).
Greater Preston CCG and Chorley and South Ribble CCG are seeking expressions of interest from suitably qualified and experienced organisations to deliver an Integrated Urgent Care Service which shall include Urgent Care Centres (UCC), GP Home visiting services (during traditional out of hours (OOH) periods), Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) Services and in conjunction with North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) a Pathways Alternative to Transport Service (PATS) to their populations from facilities co located with the Emergency Departments (ED) of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust at Royal Preston and Chorley District Hospitals.
The CCGs wish to appoint a single (prime) provider to deliver the services across the combined CCG areas.
Co-located at the existing Emergency Departments at Royal Preston and Chorley District Hospitals, walk in patients will access the UCC and Emergency Departments through the same entrance and reception/waiting areas at each location. Patients will also access the DVT and attend pre booked face to face appointments during traditional GP OOH periods (as Urgent Centre attendances) through this single entrance. The GP Home visiting and NWAS PATS will also be based out of the same facilities.
Locally patients will access Urgent Care Services during the traditional OOH periods via ‘111’, and PATS from NWAS, with patients most usually contacting ‘111’ in the first instance.
Urgent Care Centre.
In line with developments now and in the future in the National Urgent Care model the urgent care centre shall:
– Provide high quality primary care minor injury and minor illness services, including basic diagnostics, to patients with non ED conditions 24/7/365 days per year.
– Be configured, staffed, equipped and resourced to treat over 62,500 patients per year (approx. 37,500 illness and 25,000 injury patients). The service must work closely with the existing ED service to provide a seamless patient experience; identifying quickly those patients who require emergency acute care and those who do not and can be treated in the UCC with the focus on reducing admissions to the acute hospital and through working with associated care services increase the number of cases managed at home.
– See and treat (where possible) patients and discharge or refer as appropriate.
– See ‘Booked’ face to face appointments at the UCC for traditional OOH’s patients as appropriate.
– Such ‘booked’ appointment patients are expected to be in the order of 16,000 patients per annum in Preston and Chorley (in addition to the diverted ED patients volumes stated above)
– Patients attending who do not have urgent care needs will be supported by UCC staff to access advice and care from their local community pharmacist, access health promotion, self-management and educational information, make an appointment for them with their own GP within the target timescales, support and facilitate the registration of unregistered patients with a GP.
– Maximise opportunities to integrate with other community and Primary Care based services, especially in the field of face to face patient care at all times day and night.
GP Home Visiting Services.
– Home visiting service as appropriate for patients unable to attend for a ‘booked’ face to face appointment at the UCC during traditional OOH periods. Patient volumes are expected to be in the order of 2,850 combined for both CCGs.
DVT Service.
Deliver a ‘one stop shop’ DVT service for the initial assessment, diagnosis and full management of DVT in general accordance with the NICE ‘pathway’ to;
– Provide a robust service to expedite referrals and transfers from GP Practices, Emergency Departments etc.
– Diagnose Patients presenting with signs or symptoms of non-complex deep vein thrombosis in a timely and accurate manner.
– Improve Patient access to assessment, diagnosis and treatment of DVT.
– Point of care service using the two-level Wells clinical Assessment tool.
– Provide point of care D-dimer tests.
– Inform Patients fully regarding their condition, having given consent and being fully involved in the planning of their treatment programme.
– Treat Patients suitable for diagnosis, management and treatment in a primary care as opposed to an acute setting.
– Reduce inappropriate emergency admissions to acute hospital wards and emergency departments.
With regard to activity levels over the most recent 12 months, Preston has generated 1 200 new referrals, 150 positive diagnoses and 2 450 follow up appointments, Chorley has generated 265 new referrals with 75 positive diagnoses. (follow up data is not available).
NWAS Pathways Alternative to Transport Service (PATS)
Working alongside NWAS both locally and the wider Lancashire footprint, deliver a ‘Pathways Alternative to Transfer Service’ (PATS) deploying a GP within 2 hours of referral to undertake a face to face assessment at the patient’s residence or if deemed clinically appropriate provide remote telephone advice and discharge the patient accordingly, supporting:
– reduction in the number of patients conveyed to the Emergency Department who can safely and appropriately be cared for within the community setting;
– reduction in the delays experienced by NWAS when attending the Emergency Department, due to capacity and pressures at periods throughout the year;
– enabling NWAS staff to refer safely to a responsive, medical service within the community, giving them an alternative to transferring to the Emergency Department;
– further development of the current parameters of the scheme, allowing innovation and influencing different options to managing urgent/unscheduled care.
Between December 2013 and June 2015 the PATS received an average of 235 referrals per month (highest Month May 2015-307 referrals and lowest month Sept 2014 -159). The average number of monthly appropriate referrals dealt with by PATS was 212 during this period (highest Month Dec 2013-100 % and lowest month Mar 2015 -83 %).
Anecdotally it is understood that c 80 % of referrals are dealt with and discharged by telephone.
Common procurement vocabulary (CPV): 85100000,