Unscheduled Dental Care (UDC) to NHS Kent and Medway ICB

This is an intention to award notice.

Kent and Medway Unscheduled Dental Care (UDC) is an NHS out-of-hours emergency dental service providing urgent care during evenings, weekends, and bank holidays. It offers temporary pain relief and treatment for severe dental issues such as acute pain, trauma, bleeding, or swelling when regular dental practices are closed. Patients must follow up with their own dentist for ongoing care. Access is via telephone triage for advice and appointment booking.

NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) intends to award a contract to an existing provider, Medway Community Health (MCH), following Direct Award Process C of the UK Health Care Services (PSR) Regulations 2023 for UDC services in the Kent and Medway area. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 do not apply to this award. The publication of this notice marks the start of the standstill period.

The term of the existing UDC contract is due to expire on 31st March 2026 and NHS Kent and Medway ICB have proposed that new a UDC contract should replace the existing contract at the end of its term. All requirements outlined in Regulation 6(5) of the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023 have been met, including that the considerable change threshold has not been met, and therefore Direct Award Process C has been determined as the appropriate provider selection process.

After conducting assessments of the existing provider, taking into account the key criteria and applying the basic selection criteria, NHS Kent and Medway ICB is content that the existing provider is satisfying the original contract and will likely satisfy the proposed contract to a sufficient standard.

The awarded contract will be for a term of 36 months and is due to commence from 1st April 2026, terminating 31st March 2029. The total maximum contract value of the contract is £3,821,338.52.