BHRUT/Contact Patients As a Service/DrDoctor

The Contracting Authority justifies the direct award pursuant to Schedule 5, Paragraph 5(a) and 5(b) of the Procurement Act 2023 (PA23). The supplier was awarded a contract for the provision of a Patient Engagement Portal by the North East London Integrated Care Board (NEL ICB) following an open tender process in October 2023 and the contracting authority was a named party to this contract. The contract is due to expire in July 2027 with no provisions to extend. The Contracting Authority have been working with the Supplier and are now in a position to go-live with the Patient Engagement Portal that was originally procured by NEL ICB. To support patient care outcomes and patient experience, as well as to prevent cost incurrence from missed appointments, a requirement has been identified to purchase SMS messaging as a bolt on to the Patient Engagement Portal which will allow text message reminders to be sent to patients. To this end the Supplier has provided a proposal for a Contact a Patient As a Service (CPAS) which will co-term with the ICB's overarching contract for the portal. Due to interoperability restrictions applied by the incumbent supplier DrDoctor, this results in the requirement being restricted to the incumbent in line with PA23 and the grounds for intellectual property or exclusive rights apply, as all of the messaging passes through the incumbent supplier's portal and they do not allow the use of other service providers in order to protect their intellectual property. The CPAS also allows the Contracting Authority to access additional functionality which is not part of the NEL ICB contract but is required to increase digital communications with patients which will boost patient engagement, reduce DNAs (Did Not Attend) rates and give patients more control of their care. Due to the co-terminus nature of the proposed award to align with the wider NEL ICB contract expiry in July 2027, the Trust will be seeking either directly or in collaboration with NEL ICB partners, to reprocure a solution. During this reprocurement phase, the Trust will explore procurement options from the wider supplier market in line with its obligations aligned to PA23.