Details of healthcare provision by Commisceo Primary Care solutions to asylum seekers in Wethersfield

Dear NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board,

I would like to make an FOI request for a detailed breakdown of the services that will be provided by Commissceo Primary Care Solutions to asylum seekers held in Wethersfield accommodation centre (See the description here - https://bidstats.uk/tenders/2023/W25/801...), and how regularly these will be provided, e.g
- health assessments;
- mental health assessments;
- primary care,
- psychological first aid,
- longer term mental health care,
- dental care, etc?
Please provide documentation relating to the provision of services.

And what plans are in place for secondary healthcare for people accommodated in Wethersfield?

Yours faithfully,

Sophie McCann

Dear FOI, Mseicb (NHS MID AND SOUTH ESSEX ICB - 99E),
As requested, here is the content of the link (https://bidstats.uk/tenders/2023/W25/801... contains details of the contract awarded by NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board on 21 June 2023

Asylum Accommodation and Support centre at Wethersfield, Braintree
A Contract Award Notice
by NHS MID AND SOUTH ESSEX INTEGRATED CARE BOARD
Source: Find a Tender
Type: Contract (Services)
Duration: not specified
Value: £1M
Sector HEALTH
Published: 21 Jun 2023
Delivery: not specified
Deadline: n/a

Description
This is a voluntary ex ante transparency notice and is intended to provide notice of the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board’s (hereinafter referred to as “the Authority”) intention (for reasons of extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable by the Authority), to award a contract for primary medical services for the proposed Asylum Accommodation and Support centre at Wethersfield, Braintree under Regulation 32 (2) (c) to Commisceo Primary Care Solutions, for a period of 18 months.

The Authority intends to extend the existing Special Allocations contract held by Commisceo for a period of 12 months from 1st April 2024 - 31st March 2025, and modify the scope of such contract, in order to secure primary medical services to the Asylum Accommodation and Support Centre at Wethersfield within the very tight deadline mandated by NHSE and Home Office.

The total estimated aggregate contract value over the 18 month term is £1,105,000.

Total Quantity or Scope
The Authority was informed by NHS England in Q4 2022/23 of the likely siting of Asylum Accommodation and Support Centre at Wethersfield.

This location falls within the boundaries of NHS Mid and South Essex ICB and therefore, the ICB is responsible for securing health services to the service users of this site.

Working with partners from across health and care, the Authority established a task and finish group for health and care provision to this site.

Key to the provision of health services, is the need to secure primary care provision for this population. This provision has two core aspects i) a comprehensive assessment of the health needs of the service users on arrival at the site and ii) the ongoing primary medical needs of this population.

The Authority has been working closely with the Home Office and other stakeholders to determine the optimal model of primary care provision to the site. On the basis of the likely significant requirement seven days a week during at least the early phase of this new development, the project group determined that the best model of provision was a dedicated service based on the Wethersfield site. This service will be flexed up and down depending on need (largely determined by the number of new arrivals and the total number of service users on site.

The Authority was required to identify a provider of this service at pace as the initial go live was planned for April (later revised to June 23). The Authority intends to extend the existing Special Allocations contract held by Commisceo for a period of 12 months from 1st April 2024 - 31st March 2025, and modify the scope of such contract, in order to secure primary medical services to the Asylum Accommodation and Support Centre at Wethersfield within the very tight deadline mandated by NHSE and Home Office.

In making this decision, the Authority considered that to be technically capable, the provider needed to:

- be an established provider of primary care and hold an existing contract with the ICB for the provision of GMS services potentially to any eligible patient living within the boundaries of the ICB.

- have suitable and relevant previous experience of support asylum hotels / provision of assessment and ongoing primary care to a large asylum hotel

- ability to quickly and safely mobilise (for example, have SystmOne Unit, and be fully set up on PCSE)

- have access to sufficient local and skilled workforce

- demonstrate that the provision of services will not compromise any other service commissioned from the provider.

There are two key factors that impact on the Authority's future commissioning intentions for this service.

a) It is unclear at this stage what (if any) impact the introduction of Integrated Neighbourhood Teams will have on the future service model. Further work is needed to explore this, alongside the development of the INT model across MSE.

b) The requirement to secure primary medical services to the Asylum Accommodation and Support Centre at Wethersfield.

The total estimated aggregate contract value over the 18 month term is £1,105,000. 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
1 Commisceo Primary Care Solutions (Southend on Sea)
Asylum Accommodation and Support centre at Wethersfield, Braintree
Reference: 017618-2023-1
Value: £1,105,000
Award Criteria
Quality 100
price 0
CPV Codes
85100000 - Health services
85120000 - Medical practice and related services
85121000 - Medical practice services
85141000 - Services provided by medical personnel
Legal Justification
A requirement to implement an Asylum Accommodation and Support centre at Wethersfield, Braintree at significant pace and scale has been mandated by NHSE/Home Office.

The Authority has an obligation to secure primary medical services to the Asylum Accommodation and Support Centre at Wethersfield from a point determined by the other agencies, this potentially could have been Q1 23/24.

A contract is required to be awarded to a technically capable provider for reasons of extreme urgency brought about by events which were unforeseeable by the Authority.

The time limits for the open or restricted procedures or competitive procedures with negotiation (via an accelerated procurement procedure) could not be complied with before the earliest potential start date of Q1 23/24.

This has now been indicated as 1st July 23. . As such, the Authority have undertaken an analysis of the market and deemed Commisceo to be in the best position to ensure delivery of primary medical services for this cohort of patients from 1st July 23.

Other Information
** PREVIEW NOTICE, please check Find a Tender for full details. **

Reference
ocds-h6vhtk-03d821
FTS 017618-2023
Domains
attain.co.uk
midandsouthessex.ics.nhs.uk

Thank you,

Yours sincerely,

Sophie McCann