NHS England South - Pilot for Healthcare Services in Reading Magistrates Court

Advert for Pilot for Reading Criminal Courts Healthcare From 2013 the legal responsibility for commissioning healthcare in criminal courts became the responsibility of NHS England. The commissioning of Court settings healthcare is a legal requirement and to properly commission this healthcare a full and comprehensive national Health Needs Analysis (HNA) was carried out by NHS England Health and Justice Commissioning in 2018. The national HNA for court healthcare identified there is a high level of physical health need amongst detainees in court custody across both Magistrates' and Crown Courts. The HNA demonstrates, the need is most acute and most likely to be unmet in the Magistrates' Court cells. The HNA also identified issues with substance misuse, withdrawal, and intoxication.

The pilot will set out to demonstrate the effectiveness of a full equitable NHS-type care pathway across the whole of the Thames Valley criminal justice journey. It will endeavour to show reduction in risk to detained people and an improvement in the times to process detained people through reception at HMP Bullingdon. It will serve to inform the development of service specifications for court healthcare and outline the benefits to prisoner safety and continuity of healthcare. The main thrust of healthcare provision in this context should be towards assessment and triage of clinical needs, to ensure continuity of care and unmet and unknown need is identified and suitably managed. All patients received into custody will therefore require an assessment.

Some individuals will be at 'high risk' - because of serious chronic illness e.g. insulin dependency or other acute problems such as substance intoxication or withdrawal. In such cases healthcare provision will be directed towards minimising harm - while being realistic about what is possible in a custody suite. The 2018 Health Needs Assessment (HNA) highlighted the problem of patients arriving into custody without essential medications. Key 'rescue' drugs could be kept in stock and/or dispensed by a local pharmacy on an emergency basis when medication is essential.

A suitably-qualified practitioner will be essential for the service to be effective. It will also be important that the Healthcare clinician develop a close working relationship with their PECS, L&D and HMCTS colleagues on duty in the courts.

The core elements of the service include: • Assess and triage those coming into court custody. • Provide a continuation of current, new and detoxing medication to keep them safe until they arrive in prison • Promote healthcare and referrals to prison healthcare providers • Where possible access Summary Care Records and Mental Health records • Improve the links between police healthcare and prison healthcare and alert the prison about the needs of those who will be arriving into reception prior to arrival.

Additional information: The commissioner has a budget of up to £115,000 for the pilot which will run for 12 months and is expected to commence in February 2020. Interested providers will be able to view this notice via the 'current tenders' list on the e-procurement system In-Tend, available on the following link: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/scwcsu/aspx/Home

In order to submit a bid, you will need to be registered on the e-procurement system and 'express an interest', and then complete a response as specified within the procurement documents.

On registration, please include at least two contacts to allow for access to the system in times of absence.

The following wording must be included for any procurement falling under the 'Light Touch Regime'

The services are healthcare services falling within Schedule 3 to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ("the Regulations") which are not subject to the full regime of the Regulations, but is instead governed by the "Light Touch Regime" contained within Chapter 3, Section 7 of the Regulations (Regulations 74 to 77).

The tendering process will be conducted in accordance with the requirements and flexibilities provided by Articles 74 to 76 of the Directive, and Regulations 74 to 76 of the Regulations. The Authority will run a transparent tender process, treating all Bidders equally. For the avoidance of doubt, the Authority will not be bound by the Regulations or the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union or any other regulations or legislation except for the specific parts or circumstances that apply to the procurement of these Services.

Neither the inclusion of a Bidder selection stage, nor the use of any language or terms found in the Directive or Regulations, nor the description of the procedure voluntarily adopted by the Authority ("Open", "Restricted", "Competitive Procedure with Negotiation", "Competitive Dialogue" or any other description), nor any other indication, shall be taken to mean that the Authority intends to hold itself bound by the Directive or Regulations, save by the provisions applicable to services coming within the scope of Annex XIV of the Directive / Schedule 3 of the Regulations.

The Contracting Authority intends to voluntarily observe the award decision notices provisions and 10 day standstill period described in Regulation 86 of the Regulations. Unsuccessful Bidders will receive scores and reasons for the decision, including the characteristics and relative advantages of the winning bid and the reasons why the Bidder/application was unsuccessful. Deadline for lodging of appeals should be in accordance with Regulation 87 and Regulation 91 of the Regulations.