NHS Worcestershire CCGs Autism Assessment, Diagnosis and Support Services for Adults

NHS Worcestershire CCGs wish to publish their intent with regards to the following service - Autism Assessment, Diagnosis and Support Services for Adults.

The value of this contract is estimated at circa £200k per annum. The contract has been managed by Worcestershire County Council up to now, and is in the process of being transferred to Worcestershire CCGs.

The service has been with the current provider for the last year and the current contract is due to expire in March 2018. The CCGs wish to renew this contract, in the interests of short term continuity, with benefits to current embedded patient pathways, however they wish to be open and transparent in regards to this market opportunity and are therefore requesting expressions of interest if there are alternative providers that are interested and capable of delivering this service to a high standard and within/below financial threshold.

The intent is to renew this contract for two years. Contract commencement to be from 1st April 2018.

CCGs wish to commission a service for the population of Worcestershire that offers assessment and diagnosis for adults who present with suspected ASC

Service description The elements of the service are described below; The service will be delivered by suitably trained and qualified staff such as clinical psychologists, psychiatrists or professionals with additional qualifications who can work as a team to provide especially the diagnostic aspects of the service.

a) Initial assessment or triage: • The Service Provider will be expected to carry out an initial assessment to define the needs of the service user and together agree the outcomes required and approximate timescales of support. • As part of the assessment the Service Provider must draw up a support plan with distinct outcomes for the service user. • Based on previous figures the number of people requiring assessments is estimated to be in the order of 200 adults per annum and will represent the bulk of demand for this service.

b) Autism specific support: A suitable combination of one to one or group support which must be set out in the support plan. It is expected that a service user will be supported for no more than six sessions. In exceptional circumstances this period can be extended with the agreement of the commissioner. For full details please see attachment to this advertisement. The CCGs are inviting expressions of interest in the service. Interested providers are requested to fill in the questionnaire on MLCSU e-Procurement portal and respond via Bravo by Monday 5th February 12.00 hours Midday. The Commissioner reserves the right to reject expressions of interest that do not come in within this deadline and do not exhibit sufficient capability and relevant experience.

"Light Touch Regime" services: This service is classified as clinical, the value of which comes under the Light Touch Regime services for the purpose of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.