Issue - meetings

[Report of the Director for Public Health. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Finance and Health.] Following open tender, award of contract for two services offering community based sexual health services.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Health introduced the report which sought agreement from Cabinet to award a contract to Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (referred to as CNWL from now onwards) to provide a community sexual health service focussing on young people’s sexual and reproductive health, including the provision of health promotion, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and access to contraception. The model will also provide open access to long acting reversible contraception (LARC) methods for women over 25.

RESOLVED

To award, in accordance with Contract Standing Order (CSO) 9.07.1(d), a contract for a community sexual health service focusing on young people’s sexual and reproductive health to Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust for a period of three years with options to extend for 2 further periods of 1 year at a maximum annual value of £1,046,939 for the first year and £1m for the consecutive years.

Reasons for decision

From 1 April 2013, local authorities were mandated to ensure that comprehensive, open access, confidential sexual health services were available to all people in their area (whether resident in that area or not). The London Sexual Health Transformation Programme is a partnership between 29 London boroughs with the purpose of creating a collaborative approach to commissioning sexual health services. As part of this Haringey has joined neighbouring boroughs Barnet, Camden, City of London, Haringey, Hackney, Enfield and Islington to commission the North Central London (NCL) sub-regional sexual health service, due to be implemented in April 2017. As part of this new approach, Haringey will not be providing complex sexual health services within the borough and instead is proposing to offer community based sexual health services to complement the NCL sub-regional provision.

In September 2016 the Council undertook a full procurement exercise for this service, inviting bids through the open market. As a result of the procurement exercise, which has been carried out in accordance with the Council’s Contract Standing Orders and the Procurement Code of Practice, we will award the contract to the successful tenderer as outlined in paragraph 3.1 in accordance with CSO 9.07.1(d).

Alternative options considered

The Public Health team explored providing this sexual and reproductive service through the NCL sub-regional tender process. However, it was decided that as the NCL service would be based on a full clinical tariff and located outside of the borough, this option would not be financially viable nor meet the needs of the target groups, who prefer to access services locally. Instead it was deemed more suitable to embed the service alongside the existing youth, primary care and community providers in Haringey. This ensures a seamless pathway and collaborative approach towards women and young people’s wellbeing in the borough.