Agenda item

This report seeks approval for the award of a block contract to Ourris Properties for 21 residential and 15 nursing beds at Autumn Gardens and Anastasia Lodge.

The AD for Commissioning introduced a short addendum report which set out

changes to the recommendations contained in the original agenda pack as

published. It was noted that there was no change to the overall contract sum or the main body of the report.

The recommendation at section 3.1 of the original report was amended to reflect that the Council was seeking to issue contracts to two providers rather than one. The original report recommended the award of contract to Ourris Properties Ltd for 36 care home beds across two care homes. The addendum report set out that the award was for two contracts for a total of 36 care home beds, as the care homes were managed by two different providers. Ourris Properties Ltd managed Autumn Gardens and Ourris Residential Homes Ltd managed Anastasia Lodge.

RESOLVED

That pursuant to Contract Standing Order 16.02 the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care & Culture approved the award of a contract to Ourris Properties Limited for the block purchasing of 25 beds (18 nursing care beds and 7 residential care beds) for an initial period of 2 years, with the option to extend the contract for a further 1 year with a maximum contract value of £3,367,260; and also approves the award of a contract to Ourris Residential Homes Limited for the block purchasing of 11 beds (all residential care beds) for an initial period of 2 years, with the option to extend the contract for a further year with a maximum contract value of £1,184,040.

Reasons for decision

The market for residential and nursing care is largely a sub-regional one and the Council commissions nursing and residential care for its residents across North Central London (Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington). As with neighbouring authorities, Haringey commissions across this area in order to meet demand and to respond to specialist needs.

In order to ensure both capacity and flexibility, the Council is keen to have a mixed economy of spot and block purchase arrangements in place. Many placements are commissioned on a spot purchase basis, but the proposal set out here – to continue and expand a block contract – reflects the need to maintain capacity for a particular cohort of the population, notably Greek and Cypriot older people, and to ensure best value in commissioning this provision.

The care homes at Anastasia Lodge and Autumn Gardens offer culturally specific provision, catering largely – but not exclusively – for residents of Greek or Cypriot heritage. They are the only residential and nursing homes in the sub-region offering such specialist provision and Haringey has considerable demand for such placements.

The proposed arrangements will yield efficiencies in commissioning costs by securing a reduced purchasing rate per placement through a block contract as compared to existing spot placement rates. The existing block contract was due to lapse on 4^th November 2017. The replacement contracts would achieve an immediate saving of £45,000 in a full year and £18,750 for the financial year 2017/18, they replaced existing spot placement contracts with the provider. This saving could increase to £80,000 per annum should the Council access the remaining 8 beds offered by Ourris Properties Limited at Autumn Gardens.  

As well as securing both nursing and residential care provision for the future, the arrangement also ensured that commissioning rates for existing residents continued to deliver best value.

Alternative Options Considered

The alternative options available to the Council were to either ‘do nothing’ or to conduct an open tender arrangement to commission a new block arrangement. The reasons these options are not being considered is noted below:

The first option, to ‘do nothing’, would result in the existing block contract with Anastasia Lodge lapsing and the Council having to either pay an increased spot rate to the provider or find alternative accommodation for the residents. Either option would create issues, be that a budget pressure for the former, or significant disruption to residents for the latter. Doing nothing and allowing the block contracts to lapse may also deprive the Council of being able to offer other Greek & Cypriot residents the choice of living in a culturally specialist care home; whereas the two blocks would secure supply and allow the Council to do so.

The second option was for the Council to seek approval to renew the block contract for the 8 residential beds and retain the existing spot arrangements as is for the remaining placements. This was not considered a cost effective option.

The third option was for the Council to establish new block contract/s but via an open tender process. This has not been pursued for the following reasons:

a.    There was a limited market in culturally specialist provision for Greek & Cypriot older people. The providers are the only specialist care home providers the Council has placements with, and there were no care homes of a similar size sub-regionally (i.e. within North Central London) capable of meeting a requirement to support 28 residents. This has been established through market engagement conducted by the commissioning unit. There are culturally specialist providers that operate outside of this geographical area but establishing a contract with these organisations would result in the Council needing to move people out of area, which may prove disruptive to residents.

b.    An alternative provider was not being sought because establishing a new block contract with another home to replace the existing 28 placement agreements would result in needing to move the residents to another home. Even if there was capacity in the market to meet this need this would prove very disruptive to residents, contrary to the wishes of relatives and families and would also run counter to the principles in the Care Act (2014) to offer choice and control to residents.