Decision details

Award of Contract for Integrated Community Equipment Service and approve Section 75 Agreement - OCT21/CMDN/38

Decision Maker: Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Health and Public Health

Decision status: Recommendations Approved

Is Key decision?: Yes

Is subject to call in?: Yes

Purpose:

The Cabinet Member:

 

1.    Approved the implementation of a single Section 75 Agreement between the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), Peterborough City Council (PCC) and Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) in which the CCG delegates the provision / commissioning of the NHS function to the authorities with PCC acting as the lead authority.

 

2.    Authorised PCC entering into a Delegation and Partnering Agreement with CCC, whereby CCC shall delegate the delivery of the function of Integrated Community Equipment Services to PCC, which shall include the associated transfer of funding to PCC. PCC shall be the authority to contract with the provider NRS Healthcare for delivery of this function throughout Peterborough and Cambridgeshire.

 

3.    Authorised the award of the Integrated Community Equipment Service Contract to NRS Healthcarecommencing 1 April 2022 for a period of 5 years with the option to extend for a further 3 + 2 years. The total annual pooled budget for this service is estimated at £5,884,866.00 per annum. 

Reasons for the decision:

-       Provision of equipment that meets an assessed need is a requirement under The Care Act 2014

-       Provision of community equipment is also an essential part of the early intervention and prevention offer as it can reduce and delay the reliance on more costly social care services – e.g. domiciliary care and care home placement

-       The tender process was compliant with procurement legislation, and the service was procured in accordance with the Public Contract Regulations 2015. The contract to be awarded is recommended as it represents good value for money and provides services that meets the quality standards

 

Alternative options considered:

Section 75 Agreement

Consideration was given as to whether to continue with two separate Section 75 Agreements. This was felt to be unnecessary as the key element of the agreement (the pooled budgets) will be included as separate schedules. All other aspects of the agreement apply to both authorities in equal measure.

 

Contract

The following options were considered:

-       Bringing the service in-house. This option was rejected as the cost of the 80% funding model of the service would not transition effectively or efficiently into an in-house model

-       Not to provide the service. This is not appropriate as the provision of equipment to meet assessed needs is a requirement under The Care Act 2014 and essential to the prevention and early intervention agenda

-       PCC and CCC to contract separately with a service provider, however this was rejected because the contract would mirror each other and would present an unnecessary duplication. The integrated commissioning facilitates an integrated approach to the contracting as the service is the same across Cambridgeshire & Peterborough

 

 

Interests and Nature of Interests Declared:

None.

Background Documents:

None.

Publication date: 20/10/2021

Date of decision: 20/10/2021

Effective from: 26/10/2021

Accompanying Documents: