Provision of a Dental Digital Referral Solution for the South West - Market Engagement

This notice is placed as a PIN to facilitate engagement with potential providers and relates only to pre-procurement market engagement. The Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) in the South West region are seeking to commission and implement a digital solution for end-to-end dental referrals across the South West. The following areas are included in the initial scope: - Bath & North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire (BSW) - Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) - Cornwall and Isles of Scilly - Devon - Somerset Dorset already has a dental digital referral solution in place as part of a prior arrangement with the NHS England South East region, and is out of scope at this point in time. Should this position change in the future, Dorset ICB have indicated that they would be looking to join the South West arrangement. Gloucestershire is not included in the scope at this point. The Commissioners are seeking a single end-to-end digital solution for the in-scope areas of the region, able to link seamlessly with existing systems used by all Dental provider types, and useable by non-dental professionals, such as SEND and LAC staff who may need to refer into dental services. The aims of the service are to improve the dental referral pathway by: - Providing clinicians with a single way of making referrals to primary, secondary or community dental services - Improving the quality of referrals in order to support effective triage and treatment provision - Enabling patients to access dental care in a timely manner - Improving overall efficiency of the referral process - Providing accurate referral information to support clinical service evaluation, and future commissioning and development - Achieving ongoing value for money The objectives of the service are to: - Support referrals across all provider types, including private dental providers who wish to refer into NHS provision, and onward referrals, such as from a hospital to a community service, or vice versa - Reduce the number of inappropriate referrals or referrals with missing information - Help with identifying areas of training/educational need and facilitating a feedback loop to clinicians to support them making future referrals - Improve levels of patient and clinical confidence and satisfaction with the referral process - Provide information which can inform patient choice (e.g. distances and waiting times) - Allow digital clinical images to be sent with referrals, in a way which is secure - Track all referrals to ensure no unnecessary delays - Provide providers and commissioners with live information (via a dashboard, for example) of the status of all referrals Further information on the requirements of the digital solution is available within the attachment area of the e-procurement system, Atamis. Please refer to the Word document, titled 'Dental Digital Referral Solution Information Pack'. The Commissioner seeks responses to a market engagement questionnaire, the aim of which is to determine the level of provider interest in this opportunity and obtain feedback from the market to help inform commissioning. This may be followed (subject to the level of market interest received) by pre-procurement market engagement events, including for example, 1:1 meetings with the Commissioners. Arrangements for these events are being confirmed but if used they are likely to be held w/c 27th November 2023. Details of any event undertaken, including confirmed date/s, will be provided to those who express an interest. Additional information: The services are deemed to be subject to the full regime of current procurement legislation and as such this tender will be conducted in accordance with, and governed by, the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. This contract will therefore be awarded in accordance with the provisions applicable in Section 5 (sub-section 7) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.