Termination of Pregnancy Services

Concepts

• health services
• stafford
• pregnancy service
• service users
• local sexual health services
• repeat terminations
• termination
• pregnancy services
• post-abortion counselling services
• acute hospital gynaecology services

Location

Stoke-On-Trent: Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent

Description

NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Procurement Unit are issuing this Prior Information Notice on behalf of NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board (ICB) who are seeking initial engagement and feedback from the market to to help inform the commissioning model for the future provision of Termination of Pregnancy Services in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. Although the ICB is not bound to take on feedback from providers, the information shared will help support the ICB to finalise the service model that will be commissioned. The notice has been issued subject to the Provider Selection Regime (PSR) regulations 2023 for the Procurement of Healthcare Services. The ICB has not made any decisions with regards to which PSR process to follow in accordance with PSR at this time, and is looking for responses that may guide their decision making in this regard for the future. The current Termination of Pregnancy service is delivered by a single provider with an annual contract value of £1,516,373 for 2024/25 and is due to end September 2025.

Total Quantity or Scope

The aim of the service is to provide a fully comprehensive package of care including assessment, counselling, treatment, follow-up care and contraceptive advice and provision for all women requesting induced abortion. The Service will offer high quality, impartial support and advice to all service users who request an abortion, regardless of age, ethnicity, language, disability, religious or personal circumstances. The services will be delivered in line with current legislation (I.e. Abortion Act). The Provider shall deliver a full package of care addressing and maximising opportunities for contraception, sexual health and mental health needs as well as the actual termination of pregnancy procedure. Service aims and objectives: • Offer high quality, impartial support and advice to all service users who request an abortion, regardless of age, ethnicity, language, disability, religious or personal circumstances. • To provide service users with appropriate information on post-abortion counselling services both prior to and after having a termination. • Provide service users with access to an abortion as early as possible. • Offer a range of contraception including long-acting reversible contraception and if the patient chooses, provide on the same day as the termination. The objective being to minimise the number of repeat terminations. • Improve the sexual health of women by providing screening and treatment as appropriate for Chlamydia for people at risk, Provide information and signpost women to local sexual health services. • Ensure that risk of infection and other complications to service users is minimised. • Ensure clear and responsive pathways with acute hospital gynaecology services for complex patients who have medical complications or are considered high risk. • Ensure that guidelines on supporting and managing young people under the age of 18 are adhered to. • Ensure that services are delivered in line with current legislation (I.e. Abortion Act) Additional information: At this stage this is an engagement exercise. This engagement exercise will be operated via electronic means using the internet. Details will be made available via documentation and information released on the Atamis portal. To express interest, please register via Atamis e-sourcing portal https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome. Atamis Reference: C312131. Should providers have any queries, or having problems using the portal, they should contact Helpdesk at: Phone: 0800 9956035 E-mail: support-health@atamis.co.uk Providers are requested to answer the questions within the requirement section when registering interest (via https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome ref C312131) by 12:00 hours on Monday 4th November 2024.

CPV Codes

• 85100000 - Health services

Other Information

Potentially interested parties are invited to respond to the questions within Atamis project C312131 to express an interest. The service scope is detailed under the '2.4 Description of the procurement' within this notice and within the project description on Atamis project C312131. Following the response of the initial questions via the Atamis Portal, the ICB will hold a series of 1:1 sessions with potential providers to gain further understanding of provider experience and feedback on the scope of the service. These sessions will be held on 4th and 5th November 2024 TBA. ** PREVIEW NOTICE, please check Find a Tender for full details. ** Provider Selection Regime The ICB are aware of their transparency obligations under The Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. Please note for those providers expressing interest for these services, this does not guarantee that they will not be required to register for any future provider selection process, and they should not rely on their response to this Expressions of Interest notice as confirmation that the ICB will proceed further. Furthermore, although the ICB is conducting this market engagement exercise, it is under no obligation to take up any suggestions from providers. All details provided by the ICB are in draft format, the ICB reserves the right to change/amend any aspect of the requirement prior to any potential future procurement exercise. Following this Market Engagement notice the ICB is not bound to follow a particular procurement route or to undertake a procurement exercise at all. This notice is issued subject to Provider Selection Regime regulations. Please note that any subsequent contract ultimately emanating from this notice will be subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 will not apply to any future award. Transparency The contracting authority is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) and may be required to disclose information received in the course of this procurement under FOIA or the EIR. In addition, and in accordance with the UK Government's policies on transparency, the contracting authority intends to publish procurement documentation and the text of any resulting contractual arrangements, subject to possible redactions at the discretion of the contracting authority. Any redactions, whether in relation to information requests under FOIA, the EIR or policies on transparency will be in accordance with those grounds prescribed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. Further information on transparency can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement- and-contracting-transparency-requirements-guidance