Agenda item

[Report of the Director of Adults and Health. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Adults and Health.]

The existing contract allows provision for a further 12-month extension, and this report will seek cabinet approval to both extend the contract within existing terms and further extend the lifetime of the contract by 12 months. Extending the block for a further 2 years ensures that we achieve good value from culturally specific placements.

The Cabinet Member for Adults and Health introduced this report which sought an extension of the Autumn Gardens and Anastasia Lodge contracts. The existing contract allowed provision for a further 12-month extension, and this report would seek Cabinet approval to both extend the contract within existing terms and further extend the lifetime of the contract by 12 months. Extending the block for a further 2 years ensured that the Council achieved good value from culturally specific placements.

The Cabinet Member highlighted that continuing these block contracts would both secure capacity for nursing and residential care and most importantly enable specialist provision to be available locally to Haringey residents. Further, in the challenging financial environment, this proposal supported efficient market management and an ability to maintain costs in a planned way.

The Cabinet Member closed by noting that Anastasia lodge and Autumn Gardens were the only local homes which provided specialised care and support of Greek and Cypriot older people. In Haringey, there was a high demand for such housing support.

In response to questions from Councillor Connor, the following information was provided:

• Officers informed that, insofar as residents needing nursing care, it was envisaged that Osbourne Grove Nursing Home would assist in providing that care once it had been rebuilt.

RESOLVED

1. To approve, pursuant to Contract Standing Order 10.02.1(b), the variations to allow a further extension period of one year in order to execute a 2 year extension of the contract with Ourris Residential Homes Ltd for 18 residential beds at Anastasia Lodge and a 2 year extension of the contract with Ourris Properties Ltd for 21 nursing care beds at Autumn Gardens.

2. To approve the commencement of the extension period to start on 28^th November 2019 and run to 27^th November 2021.

3. To approve the value of the block contract with Ourris Residential Homes Ltd for the provision of care at Anastasia Lodge over the 2 year extension period at £1,400,272, bringing the total value of the contract to £2,695,430, over the four year period.

4. To approve the value of the block contract with Ourris Properties Ltd for the provision of nursing care at Autumn Gardens over the 2 year extension period at £2,244, 628, bringing the total value of the contract to £4,489,256 over the four year period.

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 two existing block contracts – 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.

Anastasia Lodge and Autumn Gardens are homes which 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.

Due to the unique position in the market the Council awarded a block contract to Ourris Properties for a period of 2 +1 years in November 2017 to cover nursing care beds and to Ourris Residential Homes Ltd for the same period for residential care beds. The contracts will expire on 27^th November 2019.

Approval is sought to vary the contracts so that the extension period runs to 27^th November 2021 and so that the annual value can be increased from £1,769,893 per annum to £1,822,450 per annum which represents a 3% increase overall for the two contracts.

The costs for residential care will increase from £690 per week to £746 per week. Extending the contracts for a 2 year period will hold these rates for the Council which is compares favourably with the rate for spot purchasing this type of care, which is £1400 per week for nursing care and £800 per week for residential care.

The Council has managed two block contracts with these providers for the last year and has maintained very high levels of occupancy, with the home rated ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission (the CQC) throughout this period with consistently good levels of quality.

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

Alternative options considered

An option is for the Council to ‘do nothing’ and let the contracts lapse at the end of the period. This would result in the existing block contracts with the provider lapsing and the Council having to either pay an increased spot rate to the provider or find alternative accommodation for the residents, which are likely to be at significantly increased rates. Either option would create issues, be that a budget pressure for the former, and significant disruption to residents for the latter. Doing nothing and allowing the block contracts to lapse would also deprive the Council of being able to offer other Greek & Cypriot residents the choice of living in a culturally specialist care home; whereas a block would secure supply and allow the Council to do so.

An alternative option is for the Council to extend the contracts for 1 year only which is compatible with the provisions of each of the contracts regarding extension. Given the pressure on capacity and the requirements to safeguard provision for this cohort of residents going forward, the Council is keen to optimise the opportunities of the block arrangements for the additional period as set out in this report.