Care Closer to Home Services for North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group

North East Essex CCG in conjunction with its partner Essex County Council, is seeking to transform the way in which community based health and social care services are delivered across North East Essex over the next seven years. This will lead to services which are more integrated, person centred, and are supported by appropriate care planning based on individual needs. Services will focus more on helping people to achieve the outcomes that are most important for them. This will help to ensure that they stay independent for as long as possible, enabling them to manage long term conditions and supporting them to recover quickly and regain independence following accidents or episodes of ill health. Care Closer to Home will form a key part of this strategy, and will support the CCG to deliver its long term vision “Empowering people to stay fit and healthy, and providing safe, responsive compassionate care when they need it”. In order to achieve the required step change in the way in which services are delivered, the CCG sought to procure a single ‘Lead Provider’ who will be accountable for the provision of all services within the scope of Care Closer to Home. Bidders were asked throughout the procurement process to demonstrate how they will deliver services in a way which meets the CCG’s desired outcomes for Care Closer to Home, rather than be provided with detailed service specifications. The same outcomes framework will subsequently be used to incentivise the successful Provider to improve the outcomes of individual service users. Bidders were required to demonstrate how they will work within the CCG’s Core Working Principles, which set out its minimum expectations around the provider’s approach to service user care; empowerment; and ways of working within the wider health and social care system Scope of Services. The scope of Care Closer to Home encompasses a range of health and social care services which enable residents of NEE to receive treatment, care, and support in their community closer to their homes rather than in an acute setting where ever it is possible. Whilst its focus is on the older population, many of whom have multiple long term conditions, it will also provide services to those who have emerging needs in these areas. This may include Children and Young Adults in certain specialities. Who will access the service? Care Closer to Home will support people registered with NE Essex GPs who have care needs requiring support over and above that offered by primary care, but not needing emergency or complex acute care. The CCG has commissioned a risk stratification tool that allows pro-active identification of individuals at risk of hospitalisation within the next two years. It is expected that this approach will be used to pro-actively identify people who would benefit from integrated care assessments and care planning.