WMCPC Admission and Triage Unit (ATU) - Market Engagement

The WMCPC intends to commission an Admission and Triage Unit (ATU) for children and young people within the West Midlands (aged 13-18) who require intensive mental health support and a brief admission for assessment if required. Referrals will be via Form 1. <br/><br/>The service and provider will need to be registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide mental health services.<br/>The indicative services aims are to:<br/>

• Provide brief admission and a safe place for a young person with an escalation in their risk behaviours to be admitted for triage and further assessment – this will be under the MH act [not to be confused with Place of Safety 136. <br/>
• Provide access to inpatient care out of hours where the alternative may be within an inappropriate setting i.e S136 or ED Department and the destination is admission to hospital and not to a crisis facility or crash pad. <br/>
• Give time to the young person to de-escalate from their situation in a safe place and allow professionals further time to assess and determine appropriate service for the young person to access<br/>
• Reduce lengthy inpatient admissions to Tier 4 CAMHs inpatient units and/or reduce inpatient bed days through early access to de-escalation<br/>
• Provide a range of assessments and therapeutic interventions to support the young person’s discharge and de-escalate from their situation.<br/><br/>The proposed service model should cover the following minimum requirements (these may be subject to amendment due to concurrent development work)<br/>
• Service should be focused on de-escalation and expert assessment scaling down of young person’s risk factors and presenting behaviours towards discharge.<br/>
• There should be ongoing risk and assessment during the time the young person is with the ATU.<br/>
• Admissions should be time limited and the young person should be discharged within 14 days of admission or transferred to an appropriate inpatient unit if longer term admission indicated via the assessment.<br/>
• Therapeutic input should be on providing evidence based short term interventions focused on understanding the triggers for the current crisis, coping strategies, reduction in risks of harm and where appropriate providing interventions within the group so shared experiences can support in finding solutions.<br/>
• Overarching aim is removing the need for an inpatient admission through concentrated crisis management and to reduce the burden on community CAMHS crisis services .<br/>
• Service should be operational seven days per week, 24 hours per day.<br/>
• Service should have a maximum of 6 beds for overnight care and a separate day area to facilitate ‘on the day’ discharge where appropriate.<br/><br/>This is a new service model for Children and Young People’s Intensive Mental Health Services (CYPIMHS), as such, the successful Provider is expected to be fully operational, providing services ideally from 1st January 2025, but at the latest from 1st April 2025.<br/><br/>The contract value is £2,000,000 per annum (£4,000,000 lifetime). Contract Length is expected to be a maximum of 2 years, inline with the Lead Provider contract commissioned by NHSE.<br/><br/>The service(s) must be located within the geography of the West Midlands.<br/><br/>The Contracting Authority will be using an eTendering system for this exercise. Additional information: Any award of contract for this requirement is subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 do not apply. In addition, neither the placement of this notice nor any subsequent notice shall bind the Commissioner to award of any contract.