Adult Hearing Services for NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board

NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board (ICB) are looking to procure Adult Hearing Services across the geographic area of Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

The services shall be provided both in-clinic and to domiciliary patients, therefore is made up of 2 Lots:

Lot 1 - In-Clinic Adult Hearing Services Lot 2 - Domiciliary Adult Hearing Services

The aim of the service is to provide a comprehensive, personalised service for adults over 50 years of age with hearing loss in line with national guidance and local requirements.

The vision for people with age related hearing problems is for them to receive high quality, efficient services delivered closer to home, with short waiting times and high responsiveness to the needs of local communities, free at the point of access.

The Adult Hearing Service will consist of: • A hearing and communication needs assessment. • A full hearing assessment including otoscopy, tympanometry and pure tone audiometry. The offer of management options, which may include hearing aids and associated after care. • A discussion about the findings and potential management options. • A shared-decision making conversation to develop an Individual Management Plan (IMP). • Provision of, fitting, verification and validation of hearing aids, as appropriate and in line with national guidance. • Provision of appropriate hearing rehabilitation e.g. patient education. • Follow-up appointment to assess progress against goals in the IMP. • Provision of aftercare service, including supply of batteries, tubes, domes, wax filters and replacement ear moulds. This should also include advice and support. • Provision of wax removal by microsuction at any point in the pathway where its presence prevents accurate assessment, management or aftercare. This can be at a separate appointment where required, but the service should be available with the same provider of the care pathway. • Clear advice on self-care to prevent the build-up of wax is to be provided routinely.

The Contract will be for a period of 3 years with the option to extend for up to a further 24 month period. The ICB intends to award Contracts to up to 5 providers per lot across the geographic area of Herefordshire and Worcestershire to cater for the needs of the entire geographic area. NHS Standard Terms and Conditions apply.

Additional information: NHS Midlands and Lancashire CSU are conducting this procurement exercise on behalf of another NHS body with whom the successful bidder(s) will enter into a contract with for the supply of the services.

The contract conditions will be set out in the Invitation to Tender. Further details will be made available via documentation and information released during the course of the tender process.

To express interest and participate in the tender, please register and apply via Atamis e-sourcing portal https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome.

Should Tenderers have any queries, or having problems using the portal, they should contact Helpdesk at:

Phone: 0800 9956035

E-mail: [email protected]

Light Touch Regime' services: This procurement is for clinical services which are Light Touch Regime Services for the purpose of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 as specified in Schedule 3 of the regulations ('Regulations'). Accordingly, the contracting authorities are only bound by those parts of the regulations detailed in Chapter 3 Particular Procurement Regimes Section 7. The contracting authorities are not voluntarily following any other part of the Regulations.

As the ICB is a relevant body for the purpose of the National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No. 2) Regulations 2013 these Regulations also apply to this procurement.