NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE/I) South West - Mental Health Treatment Requirements (MHTRs) in Dorset and Devon & Torbay

NHS England and NHS Improvement South West (the Commissioner) sought to commission Mental Health Treatment Requirements (MHTRs) Services in Dorset.

MHTRs form part of the wider Community Sentence Treatment Requirements (CSTRs) Programme which is a partnership between the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE/I), Public Health England (PHE) and Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS).

The CSTR Programme aims to develop pathways to enable and facilitate the increased use of all three treatment requirements:

• Mental Health Treatment Requirements (MHTRs)
• Drug Rehabilitation Requirements (DRRs)
• Alcohol Treatment Requirements (ATRs)

ATRs and DRRs in Dorset were outside the scope of this procurement, beyond the co-ordination of CSTRs for combined orders. However, there is an expectation that MHTR and ATR & DRR providers will work closely together in the best interests of the service user, especially where it can be identified that a combined order is the best outcome.

MHTR in the context of the CSTR programme is intended for the sentencing of individuals convicted of an offence(s) which has crossed the community order sentencing threshold and may be used as an alternative to short custodial sentences for individuals who may have range of mental health, personality disorder and psychological issues/vulnerabilities, which do not require forensic or secondary care treatment.

The aims of the service are to:

• Increase the proportion of offenders with mental health issues for whom an effective mental health treatment plan is in place.
• Reduce re-offending by addressing the underlying causes of offending behaviour.
• Prevent custodial sentences (especially short ones), by offering robust community treatment options.
• Provide tailored mental health support to the most vulnerable offenders. Individuals supported by pilot sites included those who suffered from post-traumatic stress, trauma, bipolar, personality and phobia disorders, psychosis and ASD.

The contract would be for an initial term of 2 years and 6 months, with a possible extension of a further one year.

The financial envelope relates to delivering an indicative volume of 120 MHTRs annually for the Dorset.

The Commissioner had a maximum financial envelope of £155,000 per annum.

In addition to the funding for service delivery, £15,000.00 would be paid to the provider in year 1 of the contract to support the evaluation of the service during the life of the contract.

Services were planned to commence on 01 October 2022. Additional information: The services are healthcare services falling within Schedule 3 to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ("the Regulations") which are not subject to the full regime of the Regulations, but is instead governed by the "Light Touch Regime" contained within Chapter 3, Section 7 of the Regulations (Regulations 74 to 77).

NHS England and NHS Improvement South West (the Commissioner) sought to commission Mental Health Treatment Requirements (MHTRs) Services in Devon and Torbay.

MHTRs form part of the wider Community Sentence Treatment Requirements (CSTRs) Programme which is a partnership between the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE/I), Public Health England (PHE) and Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS).

The CSTR Programme aims to develop pathways to enable and facilitate the increased use of all three treatment requirements:

• Mental Health Treatment Requirements (MHTRs)
• Drug Rehabilitation Requirements (DRRs)
• Alcohol Treatment Requirements (ATRs)

ATRs and DRRs in Devon and Torbay were outside the scope of this procurement, beyond the co-ordination of CSTRs for combined orders. However, there is an expectation that MHTR and ATR & DRR providers will work closely together in the best interests of the service user, especially where it can be identified that a combined order is the best outcome.

MHTR in the context of the CSTR programme is intended for the sentencing of individuals convicted of an offence(s) which has crossed the community order sentencing threshold and may be used as an alternative to short custodial sentences for individuals who may have range of mental health, personality disorder and psychological issues/vulnerabilities, which do not require forensic or secondary care treatment.

The aims of the service are to:

• Increase the proportion of offenders with mental health issues for whom an effective mental health treatment plan is in place.
• Reduce re-offending by addressing the underlying causes of offending behaviour.
• Prevent custodial sentences (especially short ones), by offering robust community treatment options.
• Provide tailored mental health support to the most vulnerable offenders. Individuals supported by pilot sites included those who suffered from post-traumatic stress, trauma, bipolar, personality and phobia disorders, psychosis and ASD.

The contract would be for an initial term of 2 years and 6 months, with a possible extension of a further one year.

The financial envelope relates to delivering an indicative volume of 150 MHTRs annually for the Devon and Torbay contract.

The Commissioner had a maximum financial envelope of £155,000 per annum.

In addition to the funding for service delivery, £15,000.00 would be paid to the provider in year 1 of the contract to support the evaluation of the service during the life of the contract.

Services were planned to commence on 01 October 2022. Additional information: The services are healthcare services falling within Schedule 3 to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ("the Regulations") which are not subject to the full regime of the Regulations, but is instead governed by the "Light Touch Regime" contained within Chapter 3, Section 7 of the Regulations (Regulations 74 to 77).