Prior Information Notice (PIN) for the Provision of Intermediate Minor Oral Surgery (IMOS) Dental Services including treatment under Conscious Sedation in Shropshire and Staffordshire

The purpose of this PIN is to notify the market of a forthcoming procurement. The procurement will seek to appoint a provider(s) that can deliver Intermediate Minor Oral Surgery (IMOS) Dental Services, including treatment under Conscious Sedation.

The service is aimed at those patients who require Level 2 care – that is procedural and/or patient complexity requiring a clinician with enhanced skills and experience who may or may not be on the specialist register.

The specialty of Oral Surgery (OS) deals with the diagnosis and management of pathology of the mouth and jaws that requires surgical intervention. Oral Surgery involves the treatment of children, adolescents and adults, and the management of dentally anxious and/or medically complex patients. Oral Surgery care is provided by Oral Surgeons and by Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons as the clinical competencies of these two specialties overlap.

The key objectives of the procurement are to commission IMOS dental services in Shropshire and Staffordshire that will:

• eliminate current inequity of services provision across Shropshire and Staffordshire; services will be strategically located across the specified area to improve equality of access, improve waiting times for treatment and to ensure that patients who most need the services are able to be referred to a local provider;
• ensure the services are delivered by appropriately registered, qualified, accredited, trained and experienced professionals to ensure that the complexity of the patient or procedure matches the skills and setting of the individual or team providing the treatment;
• continue to ensure patients are seen in a Primary care setting in Shropshire where this is appropriate and move patients into a primary care setting in Staffordshire which will deliver shorter waiting times and travel times for the patients;
• ensure that patients benefit from services which are integrated with the wider system such as Managed Clinical Networks, Secondary Care etc. Oral Surgery Managed Clinical Networks (MCNs) will oversee the implementation and the functioning of the specialist pathways, including quality improvement, mentorship, education, training of others, audit and leadership. All Level 2 and 3A providers will be expected to play an active role and have formal links to the Oral Surgery MCNs;
• deliver treatment to those patients whose defined needs are not expected to be within the remit of a General Dental Practitioner (GDP) within Primary Care and for whom the complexity of their treatment or medical condition does not necessitate care provision in a secondary care setting;
• ensure patients are only accepted for treatment if eligible for NHS care and referred through “Rego” the North Midlands Dental Electronic Referral Service (DERS). Patients who are not eligible for this service will be either rejected and referred back to the referring GDP or escalated to an Acute Trust;
• ensure new Provider(s) actively work in partnership with NHS E/I Midlands, Local Dental Network (LDN), Oral Surgery MCN’s, Sustainable Transformation Partnerships (STP’s) and Primary Care Networks (PCN’s) to review and implement relevant Commissioning Standards to transform specialised dental services;
• ensure that anyone performing Level 2 oral surgery procedures is accredited as a Performer of oral surgery Level 2 complexity care before delivering care in this Service via a Local Accreditation Panel to accredit Performers if they are not already accredited. This will be based on the NHS England Accreditation of Performers of Level 2 complexity care documentation.