SEL ICB (Bexley) Community Social Prescribing Service

NHS South East London Integrated Care Board (SEL ICB) intends to award a single contract for the delivery of a Community Social Prescribing Service across the London Borough of Bexley. The service is a social prescribing, prevention and early intervention offer for residents experiencing non-clinical issues affecting their health and wellbeing, including social isolation, practical challenges, digital exclusion, housing-related barriers and other wider determinants of health. The service will operate across the Clocktower, Frognal and North Bexley Local Care Network localities. It will support adults aged 18 and over and include a Children and Young People's offer for young people of secondary school age up to 18 years.

The provider will receive, triage and manage referrals from a wide range of sources, including primary care, social care, other statutory agencies, community and voluntary organisations. It will undertake person-centred conversations to identify residents' needs, strengths and goals and connect them to appropriate community, voluntary and statutory support. Support may include advice, wellbeing and peer-support activities, practical assistance, community groups, volunteering, digital inclusion, housing navigation and other prevention and early intervention services. The provider will deliver a defined housing advocacy element where housing-related issues affect a resident's health, wellbeing or ability to engage with wider support. This will focus on early identification, practical navigation, advocacy, connection to appropriate advice and escalation through relevant neighbourhood and system pathways.

The service will collaborate and integrate with Integrated Neighbourhood Teams, Primary Care Networks, Local Care Networks, GP practices and aligned health, care, housing and voluntary sector programmes. It will maintain clear arrangements with primary-care-employed link workers and other personalised-care roles to minimise duplication and provide residents with a coordinated experience. The provider will be responsible for appropriate workforce capacity, supervision, training, governance, safeguarding, information governance, risk management and business continuity. It will use secure, fit-for-purpose information systems and collect and report activity, outcomes, resident experience and local intelligence in accordance with commissioner requirements.

The provider will contribute to improved wellbeing and resilience, better use of health and care services, reduced avoidable demand where appropriate, improved access to preventative support and stronger intelligence about unmet need, service gaps and community capacity. The service will also support the local voluntary sector by managing referrals appropriately, strengthening pathways and avoiding unnecessary pressure on individual organisations.

The outcomes of this service are as follows;

To support Bexley residents to maintain healthy and productive lives in their own homes and family/support networks by;

• Assistance with recovery from adverse events, ill health or injury
• Enhancing quality of life for people with long term conditions
• Improving resilience
• Delaying or preventing the development of long term or life limiting conditions
• Prevention of premature mortality.

The local health economy in Bexley benefits from;

• A reduction in unnecessary appointments through the facilitation of self-care
• More appropriate use of Health and Social Care services including Primary Care, Secondary Care, Acute NHS Services and Ambulatory Services
• Improved access for primary care clinicians to refer residents to Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) services through social prescribing.

The local voluntary sector is supported to effectively meet the needs of Bexley residents through;

• Increased intelligence available to commissioners and other relevant officers within the ICB and Council
• Identification of gaps or capacity issues within the sector
• Effectively sharing patient referrals across the sector to support the sustainability of individual organisations and avoid overwhelming the system

The provider will be expected to demonstrate the capability and capacity to deliver an integrated social prescribing service across Bexley, including effective partnership working, appropriate governance arrangements and the ability to achieve the service objectives and requirements set out in this notice.

The Community Social Prescribing Service is intended to provide a borough-wide model of social prescribing and prevention support in Bexley, working across all three Local Care Network localities.

The service will support adults aged 18 and over, alongside a Children and Young People's offer, and will work in partnership with primary care, local authority partners, community organisations and the wider voluntary, community and social enterprise sector to improve access to non-clinical support and reduce health inequalities.

The service provider's role is to lead and coordinate the service, and they will be responsible for:

A. Overall:

• The provider will lead and coordinate delivery of the Community Social Prescribing Service across Bexley, ensuring that the service operates as a safe, effective and integrated borough-wide model of support.
• The provider will maintain appropriate staffing, supervision, training and operational management arrangements to ensure that the service has the capacity and capability to meet contractual requirements
• The provider will deliver and coordinate the borough-wide Children and Young People's counselling offer for eligible young people of secondary school age up to 18 years. Counselling must be delivered by appropriately qualified, trained and supervised staff within clearly defined clinical governance, safeguarding, consent, confidentiality and information governance arrangements. The provider will maintain accessible referral and triage processes, assess and manage risk, respond appropriat…