Integrated Community Equipment Loan Service for Essex

Essex County Council on behalf of the Consortium invited tenders in November 2022 for provision of an integrated community equipment loan service for people of all ages and needs across Essex, providing such items as commodes, beds, shower chairs and hoists, as well as adaptations such as grab rails and chair raisers in line with the requirements set out in the Contract and Service Specification.

This service will be for an initial 5-year term, with an option to extend for up to a further 2 years, with services commencing in July 2023.

The community equipment service complements other Health and Social Care services, such as reablement and domiciliary care and support. The aim of all these services is to promote independence and enable people to gain, regain and maintain skills, as well as helping to prevent hospital admissions. This accords strongly with the Council’s ‘Everyone’s Essex’ ambition of promoting health, care, and wellbeing for all ages, as well as the Council’s aims around levelling up. It does this by promoting independence and healthy lifestyles, levelling up health, supporting carers, improving outcomes for vulnerable adults and children, encouraging green growth (minimising waste and increasing recycling of equipment) and strengthening family resilience and stability.

The non-exhaustive list of activities to deliver a core service are as set out below, and defined within the Contract and Service Specification:

• Sourcing, purchasing and storage of equipment including management of stock;
• Delivery, installation and fitting of equipment;
• Approved Assessor assessment service for low-level items;
• Collection of equipment from service users when no longer required;
• Counter service for the collection and return of equipment, demonstration of equipment or clinical assessment;
• Adaptations;
• Maintenance and repair/refurbishment of equipment, including scheduled testing and servicing (e.g., LOLER, PAT, etc.);
• Cleaning and decontamination of returned equipment;
• Ceiling track hoist assessments, installations, repairs, replacement, maintenance and removal;
• Moving or relocating equipment within or between someone’s home(s) e.g. upstairs to downstairs or to a new property;
• Reporting and management of any situations of concern or safeguarding;
• Maintenance of accurate information and asset management records on stock, procurement, warranties, maintenance, cleaning etc providing suitable transparency to for the Consortium;
• Facilitation of new product evaluation, demonstrations and clinical trials for the Consortium;
• Assessment and reduction of non-recyclable and single use items over the life of the contract;
• Engaging with stakeholders supporting the health and social care system in Essex.

Notwithstanding the indicative contract value, the services the subject matter of this contract are demand-based services with no guarantee of equipment or activity volumes or inflation uplifts at any point during the term.