NHS Southport & Formby CCG and NHS South Sefton CCG - COVID - 19 Urgent Eyecare Services (CUES)

NHS Southport & Formby CCG and NHS South Sefton CCG - COVID - 19 Urgent Eyecare Services (CUES)

NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit (CSU) are working on behalf of NHS Southport & Formby CCG and NHS South Sefton CCG who are making a contract award for COVID - 19 Urgent Eyecare Services (CUES) to Primary Eyecare Services Ltd.

This is contract award is being made due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to national COVID-19 guidance, hospital ophthalmology departments have reduced all routine out-patient and surgical activity, providing services only for high risk patients and emergency care. As a consequence, there is a risk that patients with urgent eye health issues will find it difficult to access care or may choose not to access care from a hospital setting, with potential implications for their sight and long-term eye health.

The CUES service will: • safely deliver urgent eye care in the community • deliver remote triage and consultations (by telephone or video) to minimise face-to-face appointments • make use of technology to reduce patient - practitioner contact time • reduce the expected burden on the rest of primary care (GP practices) and reduce pressures on ophthalmology departments within secondary care • maintain local access to quality eyecare services for the local population

The contract will be awarded to be delivered on a case-by-case basis and it is anticipated that the contract value will be approximately £87,864 per annum. The contract is being awarded for a 12-month period with the option to extend for a further 1 x 12-month period.

The contract will be reviewed as part of phase II recovery plans and any further national guidance.

Additional information: This Contract Award Notice is published under the Public Contract Regulations 2015. It is for clinical services which are Light Touch Regime services for the purpose of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 as specified in Schedule 3 of the Regulations ('Regulations'). Accordingly, the contracting authority is only bound by those parts of the Regulations detailed in Chapter 3 Particular Procurement Regimes Section 7. The contracting authority is not voluntarily following any other part of the Regulations.

The CCG is awarding this contract in line with the Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 01/20 issued by the UK Cabinet Office in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The CCG is exercising its right to undertake a direct award due to extreme urgency utilising Regulation 32(2)(c) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.