Community Connector Roles within the Mental Health Integrated Community Service (MHICS) Teams in East Berkshire - Frimley Health and Care Integrated Care Board (ICB)

Award outcome

Description

Frimley Health and Care ICB (the Commissioner) seeks to commission Community Connector roles within the MHICS Teams across East Berkshire. In 2019, the ICB was successfully awarded funding to be one of 12 national early implementer sites to deliver Community Mental Health (CMH) transformation. This has enabled the design and implementation of integrated primary and community mental health care for adults and older adults with Significant Mental Illness (SMI), built around Primary Care Networks (PCNs), so that more patients with SMI are effectively supported in primary care. As part of the ICS-wide CMH transformation programme, there will be a total of 9 MHICS Teams, covering the 10 PCNs across East Berkshire. MHICS offers a service to patients in primary care with significant mental health difficulties who have not met the criteria for, or whose needs are not met by existing primary and secondary care mental health services. Flow into the MHICS service is mainly from primary care, but also for patients stepping down from secondary care and will continue to evolve as part of the One Team approach as the programme continues to transform the way people with mental health needs are supported in their communities. The Community Connectors will form part of the core MHICS team (minimum 1 WTE Community Connector per team), and their role will include: • Help identify psychoeducational, emotional, socio-economic needs that impact on mental wellbeing through direct 1:1 work with MHICS clients, and use this understanding to support engagement and access to appropriate local and community resources • Actively link, develop and bridge out to the infrastructure of VCSE support services across East Berkshire to offer: - Earlier intervention - Longer appointment time - Practical support and help - Guided self-help resources - Follow ups and ongoing support - Onward bridging where needed - Links with community resources - Particular links into Wellbeing Services and Carer Support • In line with a client's goals and needs, brief psychoeducation/psychosocial approaches may be employed, which, when within their competency, may be delivered by Community Connectors and/or jointly with the Mental Health Practitioners. Services are anticipated to commence on 1st January 2023. The Contract will be for an initial term of 2 years, with an option to extend for any period up to a further 24 months. The maximum annual contract value for year 1 is £417,150. TUPE may apply upon commencement of the Contract to the 5 roles delivering the existing service to 5 PCNs. There is potential for 2 additional Community Connector roles being required to cover a new Community Rehabilitation Enhanced Service Team (CREST) being established by Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in 2022/2023. If the additional roles are required, the contract may be varied to include this additional provision at an estimated financial value of £92,700 per annum. Additional information: Interested parties who wish to take part in the procurement are invited to take part in an Invitation to Tender (ITT) process, based on the open procedure and designed to identify the most economically advantageous tender and therefore determine the incoming provider. All ITT responses must be returned by 12 noon on 8th August 2022 at the latest. Interested parties will be able to access this opportunity via the 'Live Opportunities' list on the e-procurement system, Atamis, available on the following link: https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome In order to submit a bid, you will need to be registered on the e-procurement system and then complete a response as specified within the procurement documents. This procurement is being carried out by NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit (SCW) on behalf of the Commissioners. The services are healthcare services falling within Schedule 3 to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ("the Regulations") which are not subject to the full regime of the Regulations, but is instead governed by the "Light Touch Regime" contained within Chapter 3, Section 7 of the Regulations (Regulations 74 to 77). The tendering process will be conducted in accordance with the requirements and flexibilities provided by Articles 74 to 76 of the Directive, and Regulations 74 to 76 of the Regulations. The Authority will run a transparent tender process, treating all Bidders equally. For the avoidance of doubt, the Authority will not be bound by the Regulations or the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union or any other regulations or legislation except for the specific parts or circumstances that apply to the procurement of these Services. Neither the inclusion of a Bidder selection stage, nor the use of any language or terms found in the Directive or Regulations, nor the description of the procedure voluntarily adopted by the Authority ("Open", "Restricted", "Competitive Procedure with Negotiation", "Competitive Dialogue" or any other description), nor any other indication, shall be taken to mean that the Authority intends to hold itself bound by the Directive or Regulations, save by the provisions applicable to services coming within the scope of Annex XIV of the Directive / Schedule 3 of the Regulations. The Contracting Authority intends to voluntarily observe the award decision notices provisions and 10 day standstill period described in Regulation 86 of the Regulations.

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