NHS Derby and Derbyshire CCG Integrated Community Equipment Service (DICES) and All Age Consumables Service

Derby Integrated Community Equipment Service provides a range of equipment on loan to people of all ages ordinarily resident in the city of Derby, following assessment and prescription by a recognized prescriber. It is a partnership service, commissioned jointly by NHS Derby and Derbyshire CCG and Derby City Council, with a pool of prescribers drawn principally from Derby City Council, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust and Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. The partners are represented on a Partnership Board, which meets quarterly to provide oversight and strategic direction to the Service. An Operational Managers Groups reports into the Partnership Board and is responsible for ensuring that Board decisions are implemented effectively by all partners, and resolving any operational issues.

The service being commissioned is non-clinical and relates purely to the logistics of supplying, collecting and maintaining the equipment. Clinical input to the service is provided through the pool of recognized prescribers, a clinical commissioning function provided by NHS Derby and Derbyshire CCG, and a multi-agency Equipment Review Group, which meets quarterly to consider changes to the range of equipment provided. The provider will work within this framework, ensuring that the agreed clinical governance arrangements, both for individual items of equipment and strategic decisions about the equipment to be provided/policies and procedures for equipment provision, are followed appropriately.

NHS Derby and Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group wish to appoint a provider to manage the logistical arrangements for providing medical equipment and consumables for patients living in the community. Supporting patients of all ages to be independent and looked after in their communities, rather than in residential or acute medical settings is a key priority for Joined Up Care Derbyshire, the STP for the Derby and Derbyshire footprint.

The service will provide equipment and consumables to patients in the following categories:

1. Children who are under the care of the KITE (Kids in Their Environment) Team, provided by the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, and covering children aged up to 18 in the Derby and Southern Derbyshire areas.
2. Any patient for whom the CCG’s Commissioning for Individuals Panel has agreed the purchase of a specific piece of equipment, which is not available through standard commissioned routes.
3. Children and adult patients who require medical equipment and/or consumables to live independently in the community, where the equipment/consumable cannot be prescribed by their GP and who are not under the care of a community service who could take responsibility for providing the equipment/consumables.
4. Any other patient who the CCG considers it is reasonable to support through this service

The service will consist of the following elements:

• The ordering of medical equipment and/or consumables from NHS Supply Chain, and/or other medical product suppliers if the required goods are not available through NHS Supply Chain.
• Receiving the ordered goods from NHS Supply Chain/other medical product suppliers, checking that the order has been fulfilled correctly and packaging them for delivery to patients.
• Delivering the packages to Derbyshire Community Health Service community clinics as specified by parents/ carers in their order, or to the patient’s home address.
• Maintaining a database of medical equipment issued to patients and coordinating repairs and maintenance as required.
• Responding to customer enquiries.