Urgent treatment centres for the Trust

This notice is an intention to award a contract under the most suitable provider process for an existing service with the existing supplier.<br/><br/>The value given in V.2.4 is an estimate.<br/><br/>General<br/>The Trust will contract for a short period to prepare for a longer-term provision to be agreed within the BOB ICB. This contract will end 31/3/2026 and will not be extended.<br/>The contract is to provide the UTC services at the entrance of the emergency department at Stoke Mandeville hospital and Wycombe General hospital.<br/>The Buckinghamshire Urgent Care Services Provider will deliver the following outcomes:<br/>• Ensure patient journey is as seamless as possible by minimising the points of contact. <br/>• Deliver good patient experience by providing consistent, safe and efficient clinical assessment at first point of contact. <br/>• Provide onward referral to primary care, urgent care and emergency care as required. <br/>• Nurture a culture of self-help, education, and self-management. <br/>• Ensure Directory of Services (DoS) entries are accurate and maintained in partnership with DoS leads and local systems, to facilitate timely and appropriate levels of care. <br/>• Develop and maintain clear pathways of care which ensure safe and optimal transfer of patients’ care where additional or specialist care is required. <br/>• Reduce the risk of harm to patients by ensuring patients are referred to the most appropriate service at the earliest opportunity along the pathway, using robust patient information transfer systems. <br/>• Ensure patients and the Buckinghamshire population are equipped with the tools to choose the right care, at the right time, including but not limited to self-care, AskFirst, Community Pharmacies, and 111.<br/><br/>Urgent Treatment Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital<br/>An Urgent Treatment Centre co-located at Stoke Mandeville Hospital 24/7 where all self-presenting ED patients (Buckinghamshire and Out of Area) will be assessed by the Streaming Team provided by the Urgent Care Service and determine the most appropriate pathway for the patient, including the Urgent Treatment Centre.<br/>Urgent Treatment Centre at Wycombe Hospital<br/>A standalone Urgent Treatment Centre that will provide a walk-in service 8am to 8pm 7 days a week (Buckinghamshire and Out of Area). The service will triage and prioritise patients accordingly using the same appointment-based approach as the Urgent Treatment Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.<br/>Home Visiting<br/>Home Visiting for patients who are referred to the Clinical Assessment Service from 111 for Primary Care Dispositions Out of Hours who are then clinically assessed through the Clinical Assessment Service as requiring a Home Visit.<br/>Activity<br/>The service is expected to undertake the following activity:<br/><br/>Urgent Treatment Centres:<br/>The provider shall assess all 111 Urgent Care dispositions prior to booking patients into slots. However, recognising that there are currently 60% of total activity walking into Wycombe Hospital UTC.<br/>Delivery<br/>The Buckinghamshire Urgent Care Services is a core service supporting people with urgent care needs to get the right advice in the right place, first time. The service provider will ensure:<br/> <br/>• It is available and accessible 24 hours a day, 365 days a year (366 days in a leap year). <br/>• It is available for the Buckinghamshire population, all ages.<br/>• It is free and accessible for all. <br/>• See both booked and walk-in patients in the Urgent Treatment Centres.<br/>• See both minor illnesses and minor injuries in the Urgent Treatment Centres.<br/>• Accept appropriate ambulance conveyances into the UTC.<br/>• All walk-in patients to the Urgent Treatment Centres will have an initial assessment within 15 minutes of arrival. <br/>• Report as a Type 3 daily from the UTCs on ECDS.<br/>• It is equitable access for all patients and carers, including steps to ensure this is inclusive for all. <br/>• There is equity for patients with specific health needs such as, mental health and long-term conditions. <br/>• Have current DoS profiles. <br/>• It can act flexibly when national changes occur.<br/>• Patients will be referred to the most appropriate service in a timely manner. <br/>• The provider seeks to definitively resolve health concerns without the need to go anywhere else, if appropriate. <br/>• Patients’ medical records will be available and transferrable with them throughout their journey. <br/>• Regular and consistent communications to patients, partners and key stakeholders about the service and pathways, including via provider website.<br/>• The service’s performance will be measured by national Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and quality measures. <br/>• Appropriately skilled clinical support for patients and carers. <br/>• Ability to transfer patients into the most appropriate service including: <br/>o Primary care through GP Connect working with Bucks GP practices to ensure appropriately timed slots are made available.<br/>o Urgent Treatment Centre at Wycombe or Stoke Mandeville Hospital <br/>o Pharmacies, <br/>o SDEC, <br/>o Community services, including Urgent Community Response<br/>o Urgent dental services<br/>o Other services as they become available. <br/>• Availability of special patient notes (SPNs) and Anticipatory/Advance Care/End of Life (EOL) Plans supports delivery of appropriate care and for example, working with high intensity service user patients. <br/>• Interoperability with all relevant existing and future patient shared care record systems and allow read/write access to GPs' patients records (where appropriate). <br/>• Ability to flex at periods of surge in line with requests from the ICB and Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust.<br/>• Clear pathways of care are developed and maintained alongside strong governance processes which ensure safe and optimal transfer of service users’ care in instances where additional or specialist care is provided. <br/>• Relevant and key information is shared in real time between the Acute Trust and ICB to support the patient journey, safety of staff, and efficiency of NHS services. <br/>• People with mental health needs must be able to access the service, but services should have agreed protocol in place to deal with exacerbations and acute mental health presentations. <br/>• Be responsive and adaptive in aligning to emerging or future regional / national innovations and developments. <br/>• Actively engage with our population including patient advisory groups to understand and act upon patient feedback using innovative ways to engage and receive the patient perspective.<br/>• The provider is required to work collaboratively and proactively on the development of local care pathways, to identify gaps in service, inform commissioning and ensure local service outcomes create seamless referral methods and processes. <br/><br/>Exclusions<br/>The list below highlights those core functions that will remain outside of this service specification: <br/>• Emergency Care services.