Expressions of Interest for the Provision of Primary Care Medical Services for Special Allocation Scheme in Hertfordshire and West Essex

NHS Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (AGCSU) on behalf of Hertfordshire and West Essex (ICB) (The Commissioner) would like to notify the market of an opportunity to provide a Special Allocation Scheme Service in the following areas: East and North Hertfordshire West Essex South and West Essex The service commencement date is 1st April 2024.

All interested providers are invited to participate in an early market assessment questionnaire.

Please note the deadline for expressions of interest is 12:00PM on 30th August 2023.

The service(s) will provide GP led primary medical care services to patients registered on the Special Allocation Scheme (SAS) who have been removed from general practice due to exhibiting violent or aggressive behaviour.

The service(s) shall also provide support for rehabilitation of Registered Patients in order to address the underlying causes of violent or aggressive behaviour and encourage and support facilitation of return to general practice.

The service(s) must be offered throughout Core Hours of 8am - 6.30pm Monday to Friday.

Each area has around 12-15 patients and the estimated annual contract value for each area is £30,000.

It is the responsibility of the Contractor to secure and fund appropriate and safe location(s) from which to deliver the service(s).

The location must be; a) Suitable for the delivery of primary medical services; b) Appropriately registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC); c) Safe for staff, Registered Patients and other patients; d) Accessible for Registered Patients within the Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB area e) A stable environment which actively reduces anxiety for Registered Patients.

This is purely an early engagement exercise; any subsequent procurement will be advertised separately and all organisations wanting to participate will need to respond to the procurement advertisement as and when published.

This is a market testing exercise and does not commit the Commissioners to carry out a procurement process.

Current services will remain in place during this period in line with existing contracts and service level agreements.

The procurement will be advertised in accordance with the requirements of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended) (the "Regulations") to the extent that the Regulations relate to services within the scope of Schedule 3 thereto(Social and Other Specific Services).

The Commissioner and AGCSU are, therefore, bound only by those parts of the Regulations applying to Schedule 3 services.

If more than one compliant provider registers an interest for this opportunity, meets the requirements set out in this Notice and the questionnaire then the ICB may set out details for a competitive process.

Should only one provider register an interest and meet the requirements, the ICB reserve the right to award to that provider without further publication following due diligence checks.