Primary Care Based Mental Health Services in East Sussex including IAPT

This notice is to inform the market of the direct award of a 24-month contract to Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust for the provision of Primary Care Based Mental Health Services including IAPT in East Sussex for NHS East Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group ('the CCG') commencing 1st April 2022. Primary Care Based Mental Health Services including IAPT in East Sussex consist of two core components. The provision of Primary Care Mental Health Workers (PCMHW), these are qualified mental health professionals that provide support to all GP practices in East Sussex. Their role is to support practices to manage patient care and enable timely directed access to appropriate mental health clinical, recovery and support services. The second element is the Improved Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT programme), which is a long standing nationally mandated programme for the treatment of adult anxiety disorders and depression. Additional information: Please note: NHS England and Improvement have announced that the Sussex Health and Care Partnership, which is made up of all health and care organisations across East Sussex, West Sussex, and Brighton and Hove, has successfully met the criteria to become an Integrated Care System (ICS). An ICS is a way of working across health and care organisations that allows them to work more closely together, to take collective responsibility for the health and wellbeing of populations across large areas. It is not anticipated that the statutory responsibility or accountability of the individual health and care organisations working as an ICS will be affected, save for the expectation that CCG organisations will be abolished and functions transferred to the ICS. As a result of these intended healthcare reforms, the Contracting Authority currently NHS East Sussex CCG may change during the life of the contract.