Market Engagement for Specialist Support Framework

Suffolk County Council are looking to engage with the market in discussions around the future procurement for a specialist support framework to source individualised packages for people with a with a learning disability and/or autism who display behaviours of distress, including those with a mental health condition. The aim to have a framework that will offer highly individualised care and support to people who are aged over 18 with a learning disability and/or autism who display behaviour of distress, including behaviour which is attributable to a mental health condition. This includes people with autism who do not also have a learning disability (as well as those who have both a learning disability and autism) and includes those people with a learning disability and/or autism whose behaviour can lead to contact with the criminal justice system.The support is for individuals with a range of needs where Positive Behavioural Support (or a relevant alternative) and Person-Centred Planning must form an integral part of service provision and the basis for organising and providing care and support to help with daily living and develop skills and independence.This is an extremely diverse group of people and the support each person requires will be tailored to their particular needs, strengths, interests and will be considerate of, but not led by, the risks they may pose to themselves and others (all of which may change over time). Providers need to ensure they have the capacity and skills to support the following broad groups:• People with a learning disability and/or autism who have a mental health condition such as severe anxiety, depression, or a psychotic illness. • People with an (often severe) learning disability and/or autism who display self-injurious or aggressive behaviour, not related to severe mental ill health, some of whom will have a specific neuro-developmental syndrome and where there may be an increased likelihood of developing behaviour which can challenge.• People with a learning disability and/or autism who display risky behaviours which may put themselves or others at risk and which could lead to contact with the criminal justice system (this could include things like fire-setting, abusive or aggressive or sexually inappropriate behaviour).• People with a learning disability and/or autism, often with lower-level support needs and who may not traditionally be known to health and social care services, from disadvantaged backgrounds (e.g. social disadvantage, substance abuse, troubled family backgrounds) who display behaviour which can challenge, including behaviours which may lead to contact with the criminal justice system.• Adults with a learning disability and/or autism who have a mental health condition or display behaviour which can challenge who have been in hospital settings for a very long period of time, having not been discharged when NHS campuses or long-stay hospitals were closed. Specialist support will look to prevent hospital re-admission.This is not an exhaustive list. These groupings cannot cover the complexities of every person, nor all the causes of certain behaviours. People do not fit neatly into any single grouping – they overlap, people’s needs change over time, and often a large part of the challenge for the Provider will be to understand what combination of factors lies behind an individual’s behaviour. Our entire philosophy within Adult Social Care is to put people at the heart of care, not just the people we care for directly, but their families, their carers, their communities, and you as a member of our staff. Together we will work to deliver on our four new outcomes which support this ambition:- Putting people’s voices at the heart of care- Putting independence at the heart of care - Putting quality at the heart of care - Putting sustainability at the heart of care