Public procurement notice: Prior Information Notice Without Call For Competition
Published: 2020-07-23
Buyer: NHS County Durham Clinical Commissioning Group
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
CPV classification: 85100000: Health services
Estimated value: 725000 GBP

Technical requirements: NECS372 Request for Information Help To Health — Volunteer Driving for Healthcare Appointments Service NHS County Durham Clinical Commissioning Group
NECS372 Request for Information Help To Health — Volunteer Driving for Healthcare Appointments Service
North of England Commissioning Support (NECS) working for and on behalf of NHS County Durham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) are conducting a Request For Information (RFI) exercise to engage with the market and obtain input on the draft service model in respect of help to health — volunteer driving for healthcare appointments service for the population of the CCG area.
NHS County Durham Clinical Commissioning Group is interested to hear from providers who could deliver a help to health — volunteer driving for healthcare appointments service in either all or part of the CCG geographical area.
NECS372 Help To Health - Volunteer Driving for Healthcare Appointments Service Request for Information
North of England Commissioning Support (NECS) working for and on behalf of NHS County Durham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) are conducting a Request For Information (RFI) exercise to engage with the market and obtain input on the draft service model in respect of Help To Health - Volunteer Driving for Healthcare Appointments Service for the population of the CCG area.
NHS County Durham Clinical Commissioning Group is interested to hear from providers who could deliver a help to health — volunteer driving for healthcare appointments service in either all or part of the CCG geographical area.
The aim of the service is provide a chargeable door to door volunteer driver transport service for those who are not reasonably able to travel to or from their healthcare appointment using another method of transport. Service users will incur a charge to receive transport from the service which the Provider will use to cover service provision overheads.
Support eligible patients who have a planned or unplanned need to receive care/treatment/intervention in settings such as (but not limited to):
The service would be expected to gather feedback for service users to continuously improve the service, report results of the evaluation to commissioners.
The provisional contract term is 5 years however for both of these items, request for information feedback is being sought from potential providers by the contracting authorities.
Since 2017 the Clinical Commissioning Group has commissioned a non-emergency patient transport service which has been run by a not for profit voluntary organisation and a considerable number of volunteer drivers. This has been run during the Monday to Friday 9.00 – 17.00 on a pre-bookable basis. The patient is charged a mileage rate. The contracting authority also pays the provider a payment per annum which delivers as part of the contract, elements such as booking system management, training, governance and operational management.
In line with NHS forward plans, there is a patient need identified to assist journeys in the additional areas: Out of Hours appointments, Weekend appointments and same day appointments where a clinical appointment is required. This has necessitated considering these factors as part of the service review process alongside the current complexities of ensuring sufficient volunteer drivers are available particularly in the rural areas of the CCG area.
The contracting authority is seeking to engage with as many providers as possible who could feasibly consider becoming a full or a part service provider of the help to health — volunteer driving for healthcare appointments service.
The CCG is seeking to obtain input and feedback from provider organisations as part of the development of potential service models for delivery of a help to health — volunteer driving for healthcare appointments service.


Award value: 725000