Market Engagement for the future procurement of NHS 111 Services and GP Access Fund & GP OOH Services for West Essex Clinical Commissioning Group

West Essex CCG is seeking to commission an Integrated Urgent Care Service. The CCG will be undertaking one procurement process but with two separate Lots, covering the following services:

Lot 1 - NHS 111 inclusive of call handling, clinical triage and an enhanced clinical hub; and Lot 2 - GP Access Fund and GP OOH

The services are to be procured based on the Integrated Urgent Care Commissioning standards published in September 2015 to deliver to the public and healthcare professionals a single point of telephony access into urgent care alongside their registered GP and affording the CCG the ability to co-ordinate urgent care intervention through the NHS 111 service, the clinical hub, GP Access Fund and GP OOHs.

The offer for the public will be a single entry point - NHS 111 - to fully integrated services in which organisations collaborate to deliver high quality, clinical assessment, advice and treatment and to shared standards and processes with clear accountability and leadership. It is imperative therefore that the services allow for movement of patients seamlessly from one element of the system to the other, streamlining the experience for patients, reducing unnecessary waiting and inefficiency

The services should not be limited to treating patients, but must also be committed to empowering the population to self-care where appropriate with a focus on education and lifestyle modification. The new provider(s) will need to plan for online and digital provision in the future in order to make it easier for the public to access urgent health advice and care. This will increasingly be in a way that offers a personalised and convenient service that is responsive to people's health care needs.

The service will assess patients with their care needs, working in partnership with the wider care system across ambulance, primary, community, secondary, mental health, social care and the voluntary sector.

It is essential that clinicians working in the services are supported by the availability of clinical records SCR and ESCR as well as Electronic Prescribing and other locally available systems. The IT system must also allow directly bookable appointments to a range of providers.

The services will deliver a clinically led, patient focussed sustainable high quality service with operational efficiency. Accessible to all patients, utilising telephony and digital technologies to deliver the most clinically appropriate and value for money outcome.

Although these services are being undertaken in 2 separate Lots it is imperative that the services are integrated as much as possible to reduce fragmentation between services and improve the quality of the patient journey through the care system.

To support the Procurement process West Essex Clinical Commissioning Group plans to hold a pre-procurement 'Market Awareness Provider Event' on 21st February 2017. Providers who wish to attend are asked to Register on the Attain Bravo portal and return the Form.

Additional information: Interested Providers should follow the link below to the Bravo portal to access the necessary details. Providers are asked to complete the Attendees Form and return this using the messaging facility within the system