Public procurement notice: Modification Of A Contract/Concession During Its Term
Published: 2019-07-29
Buyer: NHS Brent Clinical Commissioning Group
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
CPV classification: 85100000: Health services | 85323000

Technical requirements: NHS Brent Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) invited tenders for the provision of a Community physiotherapy service (CPS) for the patients of Brent. As part of the NHS Brent out of hospital strategy, Brent CCG wanted to redesign its community physiotherapy services provision. The new clinical model will require all referrals to the community service to be clinically triaged by suitably qualified and experienced practitioners, to ensure patients are directed to the right point of care. Under a revised service specification, the new community based service is expected to deliver the following benefits:
— improved clinical model — patients will have access to a high quality, safe, effective and standard service,
— increased access flexibility and availability — patients may be referred to the service by their GP referral, when appropriate they may be directed to the service without needing to see a GP, or patients may self-refer,
— patients will be able to book their appointments at convenient times to them, including evenings and weekend appointments at the service locations,
— earlier diagnosis of conditions, through shorter waiting times and the right care first time, allowing for early intervention as clinically appropriate,
— providing services in an environment that supports education, patients and carers, including self-management,
No matter how patients access the service, all referrals will be clinically triaged against the same clinical guidelines and criteria before a decision is made on the appropriate treatment/care required. The services will have to operate in an integrated way with a single patient record compatible with EMIS Web, which is the standard system used by primary care. The service will also be expected to participate in providing health promotion advice and services for prevention of disease progression including, for example, exercise promotion. It is expected the new service will commence at the end of October 2018. It is estimated that the service will need to manage around 60 000 and 70 000 contacts a year.
Addition of an MSK Interface service to an existing community physiotherapy services contract. The MSK Interface will act as a single point of access for all MSK referrals, including those physiotherapy and MSK related referrals that are currently going directly to secondary care and for MSK related imaging (eg MRIs). The service will consist of a clinical triage by extended scope practitioners of all referrals, directing them as appropriate, and some additional provision for some patients (e.g. additional physiotherapy appointments, classes, joint injections and a multi-disciplinary team review of cases). In addition the interface service will act as the sole route for accessing MSK related imaging including MRI and ultrasound.
Addition of an MSK Interface service to an existing community physiotherapy services contract. The MSK Interface will act as a single point of access for all MSK referrals, including those physiotherapy and MSK related referrals that are currently going directly to secondary care and for MSK related imaging (eg MRIs). The service will consist of a clinical triage by Extended scope practitioners of all referrals, directing them as appropriate, and some additional provision for some patients (e.g. additional physiotherapy appointments, classes, joint injections and a multi-disciplinary team review of cases). In addition the interface service will act as the sole route for accessing MSK related imaging including MRI and ultrasound.
The addition of an MSK Interface service to the existing community physiotherapy services contract is justified on the grounds of:
— provides a better patient pathway and avoids duplication of activities between different operators,
— that the profit margin of the MSK Interface Service would be unattractive if let to another provider separately,
— the growth in value of the current contract with the addition of the MSK interface service will be below the threshold set out in the public contracts regulations for modifications to contracts.


Winner: Connect Health Ltd