II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKI
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
NHS South East London Integrated Care Board (SEL ICB) intends to award a single contract for the delivery of a Community Social Prescribing Service across the London Borough of Bexley. The service is a social prescribing, prevention and early intervention offer for residents experiencing non-clinical issues affecting their health and wellbeing, including social isolation, practical challenges, digital exclusion, housing-related barriers and other wider determinants of health. The service will operate across the Clocktower, Frognal and North Bexley Local Care Network localities. It will support adults aged 18 and over and include a Children and Young People's offer for young people of secondary school age up to 18 years.
The provider will receive, triage and manage referrals from a wide range of sources, including primary care, social care, other statutory agencies, community and voluntary organisations. It will undertake person-centred conversations to identify residents' needs, strengths and goals and connect them to appropriate community, voluntary and statutory support. Support may include advice, wellbeing and peer-support activities, practical assistance, community groups, volunteering, digital inclusion, housing navigation and other prevention and early intervention services. The provider will deliver a defined housing advocacy element where housing-related issues affect a resident's health, wellbeing or ability to engage with wider support. This will focus on early identification, practical navigation, advocacy, connection to appropriate advice and escalation through relevant neighbourhood and system pathways.
The service will collaborate and integrate with Integrated Neighbourhood Teams, Primary Care Networks, Local Care Networks, GP practices and aligned health, care, housing and voluntary sector programmes. It will maintain clear arrangements with primary-care-employed link workers and other personalised-care roles to minimise duplication and provide residents with a coordinated experience. The provider will be responsible for appropriate workforce capacity, supervision, training, governance, safeguarding, information governance, risk management and business continuity. It will use secure, fit-for-purpose information systems and collect and report activity, outcomes, resident experience and local intelligence in accordance with commissioner requirements.
The provider will contribute to improved wellbeing and resilience, better use of health and care services, reduced avoidable demand where appropriate, improved access to preventative support and stronger intelligence about unmet need, service gaps and community capacity. The service will also support the local voluntary sector by managing referrals appropriately, strengthening pathways and avoiding unnecessary pressure on individual organisations.
The outcomes of this service are as follows;
To support Bexley residents to maintain healthy and productive lives in their own homes and family/support networks by;
• Assistance with recovery from adverse events, ill health or injury
• Enhancing quality of life for people with long term conditions
• Improving resilience
• Delaying or preventing the development of long term or life limiting conditions
• Prevention of premature mortality.
The local health economy in Bexley benefits from;
• A reduction in unnecessary appointments through the facilitation of self-care
• More appropriate use of Health and Social Care services including Primary Care, Secondary Care, Acute NHS Services and Ambulatory Services
• Improved access for primary care clinicians to refer residents to Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) services through social prescribing.
The local voluntary sector is supported to effectively meet the needs of Bexley residents through;
• Increased intelligence available to commissioners and other relevant officers within the ICB and Council
• Identification of gaps or capacity issues within the sector
• Effectively sharing patient referrals across the sector to support the sustainability of individual organisations and avoid overwhelming the system
The provider will be expected to demonstrate the capability and capacity to deliver an integrated social prescribing service across Bexley, including effective partnership working, appropriate governance arrangements and the ability to achieve the service objectives and requirements set out in this notice.
The Community Social Prescribing Service is intended to provide a borough-wide model of social prescribing and prevention support in Bexley, working across all three Local Care Network localities.
The service will support adults aged 18 and over, alongside a Children and Young People's offer, and will work in partnership with primary care, local authority partners, community organisations and the wider voluntary, community and social enterprise sector to improve access to non-clinical support and reduce health inequalities.
The service provider's role is to lead and coordinate the service, and they will be responsible for:
A. Overall:
• The provider will lead and coordinate delivery of the Community Social Prescribing Service across Bexley, ensuring that the service operates as a safe, effective and integrated borough-wide model of support.
• The provider will maintain appropriate staffing, supervision, training and operational management arrangements to ensure that the service has the capacity and capability to meet contractual requirements
• The provider will deliver and coordinate the borough-wide Children and Young People's counselling offer for eligible young people of secondary school age up to 18 years. Counselling must be delivered by appropriately qualified, trained and supervised staff within clearly defined clinical governance, safeguarding, consent, confidentiality and information governance arrangements. The provider will maintain accessible referral and triage processes, assess and manage risk, respond appropriately to safeguarding concerns, and establish clear escalation and onward-referral pathways where a young person requires specialist or urgent support. Delivery must be person-centred, inclusive and responsive to individual communication, cultural and accessibility needs. The provider will monitor demand, access, activity, outcomes, waiting times and young people's experience and report this information to the commissioner to support assurance and service development.
• The provider will establish and maintain effective referral pathways and collaborative working arrangements with primary care, local authority partners, community organisations and the wider voluntary, community and social enterprise sector.
• The provider will ensure that robust governance, safeguarding, information governance and risk management arrangements are in place, and that all relevant policies and procedures are implemented and kept under review.
• The provider will collect and report timely, accurate and complete activity, outcome, equality and resident-experience data using agreed systems. Reporting will include referral source, activity by service element and locality, access and waiting times, outcomes, housing advocacy activity, Children and Young People's counselling activity, use of community and voluntary sector support, volunteering contribution, partnership engagement, complaints and compliments, safeguarding matters, identified service gaps and evidence of continuous improvement. Data must support contract management, evaluation, neighbourhood planning and the identification of inequalities, unmet need and capacity pressures.
• The provider will ensure that the service is delivered in a way that promotes equality of access, reduces health inequalities and reflects the diverse needs of Bexley residents.
• The provider will accept and triage referrals from primary care, social care, other statutory agencies, community and voluntary organisations and self-referral, ensuring residents are directed to the most appropriate level of support.
• The provider will deliver housing advocacy within the wider social prescribing model, supporting residents to understand and navigate housing advice and support routes without duplicating statutory housing responsibilities.
• The provider will collaborate and integrate with Integrated Neighbourhood Teams, Primary Care Networks, Local Care Networks and aligned programmes to provide a consistent, coordinated and locally responsive experience.
• The provider will maintain clear working arrangements with primary-care-employed social prescribing link workers and other personalised-care roles, including agreed referral, communication and escalation processes that minimise duplication.
• The provider will source, develop and train relevant organisations and staff in the use of agreed information systems so that personal data is recorded, shared and managed securely.
• The provider will recruit, screen, train, supervise and coordinate any volunteer workforce required to support delivery.
• The provider will contribute intelligence on demand, unmet need, service gaps, capacity pressures and housing-related barriers to support commissioner, neighbourhood and system planning.
• The provider will maintain a robust business continuity plan covering staffing shortages, financial pressures, core information-system failure, adverse weather, pandemic response, regulatory intervention and organisational change.
• Staff must receive regular planned and documented supervision at least every three months, together with a documented annual appraisal and learning and development plan.
• The provider will ensure its recruitment and workforce practices contribute to local social value, including consideration of local employment and investment in workforce development.
II.2.14) Additional information
The service provider's role is to lead and coordinate the service, and they will be responsible for:
B. With patient experience:
• The provider will ensure that the service is delivered in a person-centred, respectful and inclusive way, taking account of the individual needs, preferences and circumstances of residents accessing support.
• The provider will have arrangements in place to gather, review and respond to patient, resident and referrer feedback, and will use this information to support continuous service improvement.
• The provider will ensure that residents are able to access the service in a way that is appropriate to their needs, including through clear communication, support for digital exclusion where required, and consideration of barriers relating to language, disability, culture or other protected characteristics.
• The provider will maintain appropriate processes for managing compliments, concerns and complaints, and will ensure that issues affecting patient experience are addressed promptly and proportionately.
• The provider will ensure that all staff and volunteers involved in delivery understand their responsibilities in relation to confidentiality, information governance, safeguarding and the promotion of a positive service user experience.
C. With promotion and publicity:
• The provider will promote awareness and understanding of the Community Social Prescribing Service among residents, referrers and partner organisations, ensuring that information about the service, referral routes and eligibility is clear, accurate and up to date.
• The provider will work with primary care, local authority partners, community organisations and the wider voluntary, community and social enterprise sector to support coordinated communication and consistent messaging about the service across the borough.
• The provider will ensure that publicity and communication materials are accessible and inclusive, taking account of barriers relating to language, literacy, disability, digital exclusion and culture, so that residents are able to understand and engage with the service.
• The provider will undertake targeted promotion and outreach where appropriate to support awareness of the service among communities who may be less likely to access support, with the aim of improving access and reducing health inequalities.
• The provider will ensure that communications and publicity activity reflect the values and objectives of the service and support positive engagement with residents, referrers and local stakeholders.