Children and Young People Emotional Wellbeing and Neuro Developmental Advice and Support Service

As part of the transformation of mental health services and the development of a neurodevelopmental pathway the NHS Ipswich and East Suffolk CCG and NHS West Suffolk CCG are looking to test a new way of working and would like to commission a partner to help deliver the proposed pilot.

In Suffolk we currently have an Emotional Well-Being Hub which is an open access call centre to provide advice, signposting and triage referrals to onwards support. The CCGs would like to test dividing the calls (circa 100 per month) that relate to advice and signposting (which will predominately be from parents and carers) away from the Emotional Well-Being Hub by introducing a new dedicated advice and signposting line/service. This will involve working closely with the existing Emotional Well-Being Hub to take and manage all non-specialist mental health related calls and provide a combination of wellbeing advice and/or signposting to more appropriate services within the Suffolk system.

The new dedicated advice and signposting line will also include a neurodevelopmental coordination function which will provide advice and support for families with suspected neurodevelopmental conditions (e.g. ASD, ADHD and behaviours that challenge).

The neurodevelopmental coordination function will act as a conduit for families in relation to accessing the variety of support services recently commissioned and guide families through the clinical diagnostic pathways and support them with any applications to proceed to a formal diagnosis as appropriate.

The neurodevelopmental coordination function will also include administration of proposed panels, which will assess referrals for children and young people who are looking to access limited support placements.

These are new developments as part of wider transformation programme for mental health and neurodevelopmental services. The CCGs are looking for a partner to join the current Ipswich and East Suffolk and West Suffolk Mental Health Alliance to support us to rapidly develop and commence this pilot whilst the wider transformation of mental health continues.

The pilot is expected to last for 12-18 months and the successful provider will be expected to commence delivery as soon as reasonably practicable in agreement with the CCGs and wider alliance partners.

This Prior Information Notice is a call for competition and only those providers who express an interest in moving forward with this development will receive any further documentation, therefore it is vital for interested parties to express an interest. Please visit https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/018222-2021?origin=SearchResults&p=1 to understand how to express an interest.