NECS372 Request for Information Help To Health - Volunteer Driving for Healthcare Appointments Service NHS County Durham Clinical Commissioning Group

North of England Commissioning Support (NECS) working for and on behalf of NHS County Durham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) are conducting a Request For Information (RFI) exercise to engage with the market and obtain input on the draft service model in respect of Help To Health - Volunteer Driving for Healthcare Appointments Service for the population of the CCG area. NHS County Durham Clinical Commissioning Group is interested to hear from providers who could deliver a Help To Health - Volunteer Driving for Healthcare Appointments Service in either all or part of the CCG geographical area.

The aim of the service is

• Provide a chargeable door to door volunteer driver transport service for those who are not reasonably able to travel to or from their healthcare appointment using another method of transport. Service users will incur a charge to receive transport from the service which the Provider will use to cover service provision overheads.

• Support eligible patients who have a planned or unplanned need to receive care/treatment/intervention in settings such as (but not limited to): o GP surgery / Health centre o Community facility o Dental surgery o Pharmacy o Community hospital o Acute hospital o Urgent treatment centre / Minor injury unit

The service would be expected to gather feedback for service users to continuously improve the service, report results of the evaluation to commissioners.

The provisional budget for this service across the CCG area is £145,000 per annum The provisional contract term is 5 years however for both of these items, request for information feedback is being sought from potential providers by the Contracting Authorities.

Registering an Interest for this Market Engagement Exercise The CCG is seeking to obtain input and feedback from provider organisations as part of the development of potential service models for delivery of a Help To Health - Volunteer Driving for Healthcare Appointments Service. If your organisation would like to register an interest in responding to this market engagement exercise and obtain a copy of the Request for Information documentation: please go to the Intend portal: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/nhsnecsu/aspx/Home North of England Commissioning Support (NECS) is utilising an electronic tendering tool (In-Tend) (e-Tendering system) to manage this market engagement exercise and communicate with potential bidders in accordance with Regulation 22 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (SI 2015 No 102). It is free to register on In-Tend, which can be accessed at any time of day providing you have a working internet connection. Should bidders have any queries, or are having problems registering; they should contact the In-Tend helpdesk via: [email protected] or call us on 0845 557 8079 / +44 (0) 114 407 0065. The helpdesk is open Monday - Friday between 9am - 5.30pm.

Please note that the deadline for RFI responses is 12.00 noon on 05/08/2020.

Additional information: Background Since 2017 the Clinical Commissioning Group has commissioned a non -emergency patient transport service which has been run by a not for profit voluntary organisation and a considerable number of volunteer drivers. This has been run during the Monday to Friday 9.00 - 17:00 hours on a pre bookable basis. The patient is charged a mileage rate. The Contracting Authority also pays the provider a payment per annum which delivers as part of the contract, elements such as booking system management, training, governance and operational management. In line with NHS forward plans, there is a patient need identified to assist journeys in the additional areas: Out of Hours appointments, Weekend appointments and same day appointments where a clinical appointment is required. This has necessitated considering these factors as part of the service review process alongside the current complexities of ensuring sufficient volunteer drivers are available particularly in the rural areas of the CCG area. The Contracting Authority is seeking to engage with as many providers as possible who could feasibly consider becoming a full or a part service provider of the Help To Health - Volunteer Driving for Healthcare Appointments Service.

Please register your interest in attending subsequent market engagement events for this service via your responses in the RFI response document online.

Please note that all communications and RFI submissions will be conducted via the InTend portal.

Please note that this exercise is not part of any pre-qualification process. It is intended as an awareness, communication and information gathering exercise offering an opportunity for provider organisations to help inform potential future service models and/or commissioning intentions. Please note that the RFI documents can be accessed via the Intend portal from Thursday 23 July 2020.