National training provision for a new psychological role in CYP Mental Health

Prior Information Notice (PIN) for a national training provision for a new psychological role working in the Children and Young People's Mental Health inpatient and community pathway

Health Education England (the Commissioner) is working in partnership with NHS England and Improvement to commission national training provision to support a new psychological role in the Children and Young People's Mental Health inpatient and community pathway. The role is designed to support and deliver under close supervision, assessment, formulation and a subset of psychological interventions with young people aged 13 to 17 years who may have a range of severe and complex mental health needs.

Education providers will be asked to develop a new training programme to support this new psychological role as part of a whole pathway intervention to extend and improve the psychological care in CYP inpatient units and intensive home treatment teams. The training programme developed will need to equip the trainees to respond to the challenges and context outlined in line with the agreed national curricula and the CYP MH Inpatient Competence Framework which outlines the knowledge and behaviours required of all staff working across CYP MH inpatient settings.

This Prior Information Notice (PIN) is to advise prospective providers of the Commissioner's intention.

It is our intention to commence a procurement process from early August 2021 (date tbc) to commission two education providers to support the delivery of an in-service 12-month Postgraduate Certificate (PG Cert) which will be part of a two-year evaluated pilot. It is anticipated that first cohorts for this new role will commence as soon into Q4 (2021/22) as possible.

Each training provider will be aligned to up to three pilot delivery sites centred around an inpatient unit and an additional number of associated intensive home treatment teams. Each site will be located in and led by a CYP MH Provider Collaborative. Close collaboration between the education provider and services will be a key element of the programme.

Successful providers will be awarded a 2-year contract initially in line with the pilot phase. The programme evaluation of both the training and working in practice will inform future learning and service need. Successful education providers will be asked to be part of the evaluation process.

The commissioner reserves the right not to proceed with the Procurement, or any part thereof, or change the requirements as necessary at any time.

It is the intention of the commissioner that the procurement will be conducted as on OJEU Service Contract using an Open Procedure under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The ITT is expected to be published by mid August 2021. A separate advert will be released advising of this.