Provision of Multiple Sclerosis Management Service for Children

Concepts

• provision of multiple sclerosis management service for children
• health and social work
• nhs arden
• greater east midlands commissioning support unit
• england
• multiple sclerosis management service for children
• health services
• provision of multiple sclerosis management service
• multiple sclerosis
• provision of the multiple sclerosis management service

Location

London

Description

NHS Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (AGCSU), on behalf of NHS England Highly Specialised Services (referred to as the Commissioner), is undertaking a market engagement exercise to understand the current and future capacity and capability of providers and potential providers within this highly specialised area. All interested parties, including incumbent providers, are encouraged to register their interest and participate in the market engagement questionnaire which will provide feedback to commissioners. Please note that this is not a call for competition although the commissioner would encourage all potential providers to respond to this market engagement exercise. The outcome of this market engagement will help inform commissioners of the current and future capacity and capability of the market and will be considered to inform the commissioning approach. This exercise is to commission a service that is able to expertly manage the provision of the Multiple Sclerosis Management Service for Children, including patients with suspected Multiple Sclerosis (MS) or equally rare ‘MS-like’, recurrent acquired demyelinating syndromes (ADS) or who have had a first demyelination episode and have a high risk of relapse which would require a similar treatment approach, including: Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder (NMO, NMOSD) and other AQP4 antibody associated demyelination; Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein (MOG) antibody associated relapsing demyelination and other forms of recurrent relapsing demyelination. The MS Hub Lead Centres will be geographically spaced across the Regional areas of NHS England as follows: i) Lot 1 - North comprising the NHS England Regions: the North East and Yorkshire; the North West, ii) Lot 2 - the Midlands comprising the NHS England Regions: the Midlands; the East of England iii) Lot 3 - London and the South: comprising the South East; the South West; London We would like to hear from incumbent and potential paediatric providers who can meet the following essential criteria: I. Have staff in place with paediatric neuroinflammatory expertise as listed in the service specification : (https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/multiple-sclerosis-mgt-for... II. Be currently actively managing, as an expert care provider and have seen face to face in the last year, a minimum of 20 children with paediatric Remitting Demyelinating Syndromes (RDS) (including first presentation or first event MS or high risk RDS); III. Be actively prescribing innovative therapeutic pharmacological MS treatments for these children using the NHS England BluTeq online system; IV. Have received in a tertiary capacity for expert review, five to ten new paediatric referrals of acute multiple sclerosis/MS-like cases per year in each of the last three years (2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21. With the requests being for second opinions/advice on the treatment plan. V. Must be an existing provider of tertiary paediatric neurosciences. The anticipated contract period is 3 years. The Commissioner reserves the right to direct award where competition is absent. This notice is to advise incumbent and prospective providers in the market of the commissioner’s intention to commission this service and to provide an opportunity to engage with and participate in a market engagement questionnaire. The outcome of this market engagement will help inform commissioners of the current and future capacity and capability of the market and will be considered with other evidence to inform the commissioning approach, Applications may be made jointly where partners can demonstrate appropriate expertise and meet the service criteria set out in the questionnaire and service specification: multiple-sclerosis-mgt-for-children-sept-2017.pdf (england.nhs.uk).. The questionnaire is available through the EU Supply portal: https://uk.eu-supply.com/login.asp?B=agcsu The reference is 62208 and the closing date for submission of the completed questionnaire will be: 12pm, midday on Tuesday 20th December 2022.

Lot Division

Award Detail

Award Criteria

CPV Codes

• 85000000 - Health and social work services
• 85100000 - Health services

Indicators

• Award on basis of price and quality.

Legal Justification

Following the PIN notice and market engagement exercise, it was apparent that competition was absent and direct awards have been placed with all capable providers for each of the Lots. The PIN and market engagement documentation clearly stated that commissioners would consider placing direct awards where competition is deemed to be absent following a review of the market engagement responses.

Other Information

Patients and their family/carers will have the option to choose which MS Hub Lead Centre they wish to be referred to in discussion with their referring clinician, although it is envisaged that patient flows will be mainly geographic, with patients attending the Hub Lead Centre for their Regional area. The existing contracts are due to expire on 31st March 2023 and the Commissioner is running this market engagement exercise to ascertain whether there is competition in the market and to help inform future commissioning plans. Each year in UK, there are likely to be 78 new paediatric patients who need detailed assessment and treatment in the highly specialised service. These are individuals who present with recurrent demyelination and immediately fulfil the criteria for MS or who are at risk of being diagnosed with paediatric MS within the first 12 months after presentation or who have relapsing demyelination/other acquired demyelinating syndromes. The mean age of presentation is 12 years of age. There is understood to be a current caseload of some 230 paediatric patients in England who have been diagnosed with MS, or with an ‘MS-like’ recurrent acquired demyelinating condition that requires the same treatment. As well as the caseload of more complex patients, at any point in time, there will be other patients being assessed, most of whom will not remain on the caseload once assessment has been completed and any care planning for local delivery has been completed. This is due to these individuals having a low level of care need or because MS or an ‘MS-like’ condition has been ruled out. Incumbent providers are required to respond to this market engagement exercise along with prospective providers. Contract value and activity levels have been derived based on past experience. The estimated total value of the contracts for all three Lots is £2,550,000 and payment will be either the standard national tariffs or existing local tariffs as is currently the case. There is anticipated to be no net change in the number of patients accessing care in the NHS or the related cost. NHS England highly specialised commissioning is the contracting and commissioning authority for this service and wishes to commission centres across three Lots in England (North, Midlands and London and the South) to be delivered as part of a network arrangement as detailed in the questionnaire.