The Integrated Gynaecology Service

This is a Contract Award Notice to communicate a contract award made by the Contracting Authority; Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board, (hereinafter referred to as “the Authority”) in compliance with their local standing financial instructions (SFIs). On 29th December 2023, the Authority published a Voluntary Ex-Ante Transparency Notice (VEAT) (Reference 2023/S 000-038008) to inform the market of its intention to award the contract. The Authority applied a voluntary 10-day standstill period prior to conclusion of the contract. The contract award is made to. The contract award is made to The Gynaecology Partnership Ltd for the provision of The Integrated Gynaecology Service The proposed new contract is intended to start on 1st April 2024 and end on 31st March 2025. The expected value of this contract is £1,900,284. The value expressed in this notice is the expected value of the 1-year period. Please note that these are expected values and may be amended post contract finalisation with the provider. The Gynaecology Partnership Ltd has been providing this service since 2019 and is due to expire on 31st March 2024. The total cumulative value of the contract since it started from 2019 – 2024 is £9,204,658 (excluding VAT and excluding the value of this new contract). The Five Year Forward View set out an ambition to deliver more healthcare out of acute hospitals and closer to home, with the aim of providing better care for patients, reducing the number of unplanned bed days in hospital, and reducing net costs. To achieve this objective, the organisation previously known as NHS Herts Valleys CCG (HVCCG) commissioned a range of community services from the independent sector and NHS providers. The contract between HVCCG and the Gynaecology Partnership Ltd was entered into from 1 April 2018 following a Multi-Provider Pathway Collaborative (MPPC) due diligence process. The community gynaecology service has successfully delivered gynaecology clinics across all four localities in south and west Hertfordshire. The contract is due to expire 31 March 2024. The Gynaecology Partnership Ltd has subcontracts with West Herts Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (WHTHT), Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. The service operates between primary care, community, and secondary care services to provide specialist assessment, treatment, non-complex procedures, and direct listing of appropriate onward referrals to secondary care. The service excludes 2-week cancer referrals, inpatient elective, and non-elective care. The service has offered training sessions within community clinics for gynaecology registrars at WHTHT which is currently being built into registrar rotas and this ongoing arrangement is included within the revised service specification to support future gynaecology workforce training and development. This service also supports the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme which incorporates the High Volume Low Complexity programme of which Gynaecology is one of the six surgical specialties. The GIRFT HVLC programme is a key element of the wider NHS Elective Recovery programme to adopt best practice, ensure equity of access and ensure continuous improvement. As well as the current service achieving good outcomes, timely appointments and treatment for patients and is highly commended by the GIRFT (Getting it Right First Time) Gynaecology leads in the East of England regional improvement team as showing positive impacts on the main local trust in SHW place. The service is integrated with local trusts to enable direct listing and thus it is believed that they are best placed to continue to provide the service. The current contract for this service is currently due to end 31 March 2024.