Mental Health Support Teams in Mid and South Essex

Concepts

• health services
• mental health support teams
• grays
• nhs mid essex clinical commissioning group
• south essex
• provision of mental health support teams
• public health
• mental health
• young people's mental health provision
• delivery support pack

Location

Mid and South Essex

Description

This is a voluntary ex ante transparency notice and is intended to provide notice of NHS Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), NHS Basildon & Brentwood CCG, NHS Castle Point and Rochford CCG, NHS Southend CCG, NHS Thurrock CCG ("the CCG's) intention to award a contract commencing 1st January 2022 that will expiring on 31st December 2024.

Total Quantity or Scope

This is a voluntary ex ante transparency notice and is intended to provide notice of NHS Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), NHS Basildon & Brentwood CCG, NHS Castle Point and Rochford CCG, NHS Southend CCG, NHS Thurrock CCG ("the CCG's) intention to award a contract to existing CYP MH Service Provider (NELFT) for the provision of Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) in Mid and South Essex. Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) are new services designed to support mental health and wellbeing of children and young people in and around schools and colleges. The teams were described in Transforming children and young people's mental health provision: a Green Paper and they are a key element of the ambitions set out in the NHS Long Term Plan. The CCGs are developing a multi-year trajectory and a regional plan for future MHST waves (Waves 5 , 7 and 9) from 2022 to 2024 in accordance with NHSE's "Transforming Children and Young People's Mental Health Provision Green Paper". A further six teams are being allocated to Mid and South Essex and the proposed total aggregate contract value is £3,404,847. NHSE have decided nationally to move away from the current annualised bidding process for funding relating to Mental Health Support Teams that CCG's had to undertake previously, to a multi-year approach. This was to ensure the NHS achieve at least 20-25% coverage nationally by 2023/24 in line with the proposals within the in "Transforming Children and Young People's Mental Health Provision Green Paper". Additionally, it means that the NHS can take a longer-term view and thus: • Ensure more equitable coverage across (& within Regions) • It will allow local areas more time to plan and prepare for future waves e.g. engaging with key partners locally at an earlier stage. • It will support local systems and regions transition MHSTs to 'business as usual' in preparation for the expected continuation and expansion of roll out of MHSTs beyond 2023/24. NHSE/I's 'Delivery Support Pack' for CCG's stated in the operating principles that as part of the funding being awarded, MHSTs should be additional to, and integrated with, existing support. The CCGs were expected in their funding application to reflect how the MHST offer is integrated with the existing local offer. NHSE/I set a clear expectation that a broad coalition of partners spanning a range of education settings, local authorities including public health, the voluntary sector, Higher Education Institutions (HEI's) and local providers collaborate with CCGs in steering and supporting local implementation. In light of considerable mobilisation risks associated with any transfer of service, and the ambitious timescales mandated by NHSE/I, the CCGs decided that the best solution to ensure that children and young people in Mid and South Essex continue to benefit from MHST is to integrate with the CYP MH provider, who is uniquely placed to successfully deliver MHST and its future expansion programme, within the mandated timescales. As such the CCGs propose to observe a 10-day standstill from the date of publication of this VEAT, prior to awarding a contract to NELFT for the provision of MHST wavs 5, 7 and 9, service delivery commencing 1st January 2022 - until 31st Dec 2024. Additional information: The Service to which this procurement relates fall within Schedule 3 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 as amended by as amended by The Public Procurement (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020, (the "Regulations"). As such, the Contracting Authority does not intend to hold itself bound by any of the Regulations, save those applicable to Schedule 3 Services.

Award Detail

Award Criteria

CPV Codes

• 85100000 - Health services

Legal Justification

The delivery timescales mandated by NHSE/I in relation to successfully bidding for and then subsequently implementing waves 5, 7 and 9 MHST were ambitious, reflecting the importance attached to further roll out of MHST as a key component of the Mental Health offer for children and young people. In accordance with this national process, early 2021, regions were expected to engage with local systems to develop multi-year trajectories and plans, working with their respective Sustainable Transformation Partnerships or Integrated Care Systems to develop plans for the delivery of MHSTs across waves 5, 7 and 9 their area, with support from NHSEI, DfE & HEE throughout. In April 2021, the regional trajectories and delivery plans were shared with National team, who conducted an assessment and assurance of such multi-year trajectories and plans. From May 2021 onwards; the regions mobilised the future waves of MHSTs that they have been granted via fair share allocation, through the process. This includes the beginning of MHST workforce recruitment and regions mobilising the new MHSTs with a national support offer. Whilst it is stated that each Region can determine what approach they take to deliver the requirements, there is a clear expectation that regional plans will be developed collaboratively with key partners, overseen by a Multi-Agency Working Group who will make the decision about where future teams are placed. NHSE/I's 'Delivery Support Pack' for CCG's stated in the operating principles that as part of the funding being awarded, MHSTs should be additional to, and integrated with, existing support. The CCGs were expected in their funding application to reflect how the MHST offer is integrated with the existing local offer. NHSE/I set a clear expectation that a broad coalition of partners spanning a range of education settings, local authorities including public health, the voluntary sector, Higher Education Institutions (HEI's) and local providers collaborate with CCGs in steering and supporting local implementation. There are significant mobilisation risks, particularly around workforce recruitment and training to secure competent staff at the appropriate levels of seniority to successfully deliver waves 5, 7 and 9 of the MHST in Mid and South Essex. The scale of work includes; working in partnership with HEE and HEI's to deliver a capable workforce, recruiting staff to teams, supporting staff through training, ensuring the ability to mobilise the appropriate blend of clinical and administrative personnel to deliver MHST, ensuring clear and appropriate local governance of MHSTs, ensuring integration with other elements of the local offer, and working in partnership with Regional Implementation Teams (DfE) and the wider education system to ensure education settings are engaged and ready to receive MHSTs and their service. In light of these risks and the ambitious timescales mandated by NHSE/I, the CCGs deem that the time limits for the open or restricted procedures or competitive with negotiated procedure cannot be complied with. Even if a provider were identified via an accelerated procurement procedure, there would be insufficient time to complete a robust contract mobilisation involving critical mobilisation risks, particularly around workforce recruitment and training, to meet the delivery trajectory. If the CCGs cannot meet this timeline, there is an unacceptable risk that mid and south Essex will be removed as an area from the NHSE/I pilot scheme and funding will be lost, meaning MHST cannot be delivered in mid and south Essex. The CCGs decided to integrate with the existing CYP MH provider, who is uniquely placed and the only technically capable provider to successfully deliver MHST and its future expansion programme, within the mandated timescales. As such the CCGs propose to award a contract to NELFT for the provision of MHST commencing 1st April 2022.

Other Information

** PREVIEW NOTICE, please check Find a Tender for full details. ** The Contracting Authorities participating in the publication of this VEAT and the award of the contract communicated herein are: NHS Basildon & Brentwood Clinical Commissioning Group Phoenix House, Christopher Martin Road Basildon SS14 3HG https://basildonandbrentwoodccg.nhs.uk/ NHS Castle Point and Rochford Clinical Commissioning Group Pearl House, 12 Castle Road Rayleigh SS6 7QF https://castlepointandrochfordccg.nhs.uk/ NHS Southend Clinical Commissioning Group 6th Floor, Civic Centre, Victoria Avenue Southend-on-Sea SS1 9SB https://southendccg.nhs.uk/ NHS Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group Wren House, Colchester Road Chelmsford CM2 5PF https://midessexccg.nhs.uk/ NHS Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group Wren House, Colchester Road Chelmsford CM2 5PF https://midessexccg.nhs.uk/