Agenda item

The Cabinet gave consideration to a report of the Managing Director Community Health and Adult Social Care which sought approval to award contracts for the provision of Healthwatch Oldham and the NHS Independent Complaints Advocacy Services.

The report also requested approval to extend the current contract provision with the existing providers for Healthwatch Oldham and the NHS Independent Complaints Advocacy for up to two months to allow for incumbent provider/s to implement the new contracts and allow for any Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) implications.

Under the Health and Social Care Act 2012, Local Authorities are mandated to provide local Healthwatch and NHS Independent Complaints Advocacy Services.  These services do not have to be provided by the same organisation but must work together for the benefit of the local population.

The current contracts for both services expire 31^st March 2022 with no provision to extend.  An open tender exercise has been conducted, with recommended providers for services for the period 2022/23 – 2029/30 (with break clauses at year 3 and 5).

Local authorities have a statutory duty to commission a local Healthwatch organisation, which in turn has a set of statutory activities to undertake, such as gathering local views and making these known to providers and commissioners, monitoring and scrutinising the quality of provision of local services, and a seat on the local Health and Wellbeing Board.

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 requires all local authorities with adult social care responsibilities to “make such arrangements as it considers appropriate for the provision of independent advocacy in relation to its area” in the provision of assistance for individuals making or intending to make an NHS complaint. 

Action Together has delivered the Healthwatch Oldham and NHS Independent Complaint Advocacy services since 2014 and 2016 respectively.  The last competitive tendering process took place in 2017, with new contracts commencing 2018/19.

Over recent years, reviews on local Healthwatch services have taken place, most relevantly across Greater Manchester with the aim of seeking to commission consistently.  Both commissioners and service providers regularly attend the Greater Manchester sessions and it has been integral for updating service specification and monitoring of the services being delivered.

Action Together currently delivers Oldham’s Local Healthwatch service and the NHS Independent Complaints Advocacy Service, therefore fulfilling Oldham Council’s statutory functions as established in the Health and Social Care Act 2012, outlined in paragraph 1.1 above.

The current contract price for Healthwatch was £138,700 per annum and the Independent Complaints Advocacy is £28,500 per annum.  The budgets are currently funded via Oldham’s allocation to the Better Care Fund (BCF) and engagement has taken place with NHS Oldham CCG on the tenders for the services.  Working alongside local commissioning authorities the financial envelopes for both Healthwatch and NHS CAS services are comparative.  It was also worth noting that the last time the services were commissioned (in 2018) a small reduction was applied to the financial envelopes.  Prior to market engagement, a sustainability test was undertaken for the service delivery, this found the current financial envelopes to be sustainable for providers to continue to deliver.

The current contract would expire on 31^st March 2022 with no further provision to extend.  To enable an incumbent provider adequate time to implement the new contract and any TUPE implications an additional two months are requested to enable successful incumbent providers to implement the contract/s successfully. 

An Open Tender Exercise (ITT) was undertaken in accordance with Oldham Council’s Contract Procedure Rules and Public Contracts Regulations 2015.  The tender was divided into 2 Lots; Lot 1, Healthwatch and Lot 2 NHS Independent Complaints Advocacy.

Lot 1 – Healthwatch(financial envelope of £135,000 per annum or £945,000 for up to seven years; please note break clauses at years three and five).

One bid was submitted;

·         Provider A - £974,400.00 (seven years).

Lot 2 - NHS Independent Complaints Advocacy (financial envelope of £28,000 per annum or £196,000 for up to seven years; please note break clauses at years three and five).

Two bids were submitted;

·         Provider B – £196,000.00 (Seven Years)

·         Provider C – £193,228.75 (Seven Years)

The sole bidder for Lot 1 was Provider A receiving a score of 71.00% and the highest bidder for Lot 2 was Provider C receiving a score of 76.24%.

Options/alternatives considered

Option 1 - Approved to award the contracts on the basis of the tender exercise for Healthwatch Oldham and NHS Independent Complaints Advocacy.

Option 2 - Do not approve to award the contracts on the basis of the tender exercise for Healthwatch Oldham and NHS Independent Complaints Advocacy.

RESOLVED – That the Cabinet would consider the commercially sensitive information at Item 24 before making a decision.