Secondary Care / Level 3b Orthodontic Service in Southampton

NHS England - South (Wessex) are requesting Expressions of Interest from providers able to provide Secondary Care / Level 3b Orthodontic Services in the Southampton area.

It is anticipated this service will receive approximately 450-500 referrals per annum, and has an approx. value of £460,000 per annum. This will be awarded on a NHS national standard contract and paid for on a National PBR basis. RTT targets will apply to this service. This service is required to commence towards the end of 2018 at the latest.

The Secondary Care / Level 3b Orthodontics services required are detailed below

Orthodontics is the dental specialty concerned with facial growth, development of the dentition and occlusion, and the assessment, diagnosis, interception and treatment of malocclusions and facial irregularities.

This service will offer orthodontic treatment where a multidisciplinary team approach is required, for example for patients with cleft lift and palate or other facial deformity that requires corrective surgery, or for complex restorative cases with multiple missing teeth. Orthognathic surgery will be offered in line with policy.

NHS funded services will be available where patients present with an IOTN of 3.6 or above.

NHS England's Guide for Commissioning Orthodontics details treatments appropriate for secondary care services as:

Secondary Care Providers should only be treating patients for a LEVEL 3b procedure/conditions - where treatment in a primary/intermediate care setting is not appropriate • Patients with clefts of the lip and/ or palate or craniofacial syndromes • Patients with significant skeletal discrepancies requiring combined Orthodontics and Orthognathic surgery • Patients who require Orthodontics and complex Oral Surgery input (e.g., multiple impacted teeth) • Patient with complex restorative problems requiring secondary care input in a multidisciplinary environment • Patients with complex medical issues, including psychological concerns, which require close liaison with medical personnel locally. • Patients with medical, developmental or social problems who would not be considered suitable for treatment in specialist practice • Complex Orthodontic cases not considered suitable for management in specialist practice • Referrals where advice or a second opinion is required from a secondary care Consultant (i.e. to those providing Level 1, 2, 3a care)

Any referrals received for Level 1, 2 or 3a conditions should be rejected, unless there are other factors that make secondary care appropriate.

Quality Assurance: IOTN at commencement of treatment should be recorded and reported, together with PAR scoring at completion of treatment.

Additional information: The Service will have access to a laboratory, appropriate IT systems such as Dolphin Imaging, appropriate equipment and Diagnostic facilities as would be expected from modern orthodontic services capable of supporting the ongoing development of the existing and future workforce as well as deliver optimum care to its patients. NHS England is committed to supporting the development of the future orthodontic workforce and would therefore expect the new provider to have or be able to support dental trainees and specialist registrars along with the relevant students within the non-medical/dental and support workforce.

This Service will need to be physically based within the Southampton City area with good public transport and road access. The location needs to be convenient and accessible for patients from the wider South West Hampshire area. It will be essential that the service has close working relationships with local Primary and Intermediate Care Orthodontic Providers as well as local Secondary Care Providers, especially related specialties such as MaxFac, Oral Surgery and Restorative Dental Services to ensure this service can provide multi-disciplinary care.

Consultants from the Service will have to contribute regularly the relevant Orthodontic Managed Clinical Network Meetings.

To express an interest in this procurement, please register on the In-Tend portal and submit a completed Potential Provider Questionnaire by 5pm on 14th March 2018. Full details of how to submit the questionnaire can be found at the end of this notice.

This PIN as a call for competition is initially published as a notice for expressions of interest. The Commissioner may then choose to proceed directly to a procurement process with parties who have responded to the notice and there shall be no further notice published. Any competitive process will be based on the Open procedure, subject to the qualification in this notice.

Publication of this notice does not commit NHS England to a future procurement. NHS England will not be liable for costs incurred by any interested party in participating in this exercise. Please note that TUPE may apply to this contract.

Interested providers will be able to view the opportunity via the 'current tenders' list on In-Tend: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/scwcsu/aspx/Home

In order to return the questionnaire, you will need to 'express an interest' and register on the system and then upload the completed questionnaire to the placeholder provided.

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).