Devon School Aged Immunisations Programme for NHS England South West

NHS England South West are re-commissioning the School Aged Immunisations Programme in Devon. School Aged Immunisation (SAI) programmes provide vaccinations to all children and young people of school age, whether they attend state school, independent school, complex needs schools or alternative settings. Children and young people that are educated at home can attend community clinics. Vaccinations are provided, on behalf of the NHS, in line with the Routine childhood Immunisation programme which aims to prevent school aged children from developing vaccine preventable childhood diseases that are associated with significant mortality and morbidity.

The school aged immunisation programme includes • Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations • Diphtheria, Tetanus and Poliomyelitis (Td/IPV) booster • Meningococcal ACWY (MenACWY) conjugate vaccine • School-aged children's Seasonal influenza (flu) vaccinations • Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) catch up vaccinations

The overarching aim of the re-commissioning exercise is to secure a provider for the Devon School Aged Immunisations Programme for a one year period to provide continuity of service pending a full re-procurement in 2024. The current contract with the incumbent provider ends on the 31st July 2023 and we wish to secure a provider to host the service between 1st August 2023 to 31st July 2024. Following this the contract will be re-commissioned for a duration of approximately 5 years from 1st August 2024 as part of the wider South West Programme.

The Devon service is already established and has an existing workforce, processes in place and relationships with schools and stakeholders. For this one year contract award the focus is on safe continuity of service for that duration. Any prospective provider will need to bring senior level support to the service. If there are opportunities for service development and improvement the commissioner and provider will follow this up. The provider will be expected to provide an effective mobilisation plan and onboarding of workforce from the current incumbent provider and a safe transition to the new provider at the end of the term of the contract. The current eligible population is 158,498 and the majority attend one of the 414 Primary Schools or 134 Secondary Schools.

This procurement is taking the form of a two-stage process. The closing date 17th October is the submission date for Stage 1 Applications and thus the close date for expressing an interest in these services. This procurement is being carried out by NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit (SCW) on behalf of the Commissioners.

Interested providers will be able to view this notice on Atamis (https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome)