Agenda item

The Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care and Well-being considered the report which sought approval for the award of two block contracts with Ourris Properties Limited and Ourris Residential Homes Limited for 21 nursing and 12 residential beds at Autumn Gardens and 11 residential beds at Anastasia Lodge, respectively.

It was noted that five additional residential beds would be included in the contracts (and did not reduce the number of nursing beds). 

Following questions from the Cabinet Member, it was noted that:

-           There were no concerns with the quality of the placements.  CQC had carried out recent inspections and the contracts would be monitored regularly.

-           Confirmation would be provided to the Cabinet Member on whether London Living Wage had been achieved in the new contracts.

-           The price had increased compared to the previous contract, however competitive pricing had been achieved following a pricing exercise and review.

-           Currently, resident satisfaction feedback was via reviews, however once contract monitoring was back in place then resident satisfaction forms would be used to monitor this.

RESOLVED to approve

1.    The award of a contract to Ourris Properties Limited for the block purchasing of 33 beds (21 nursing care beds and 12 residential care beds) at Autumn Gardens, for an initial period of 2 years from 1st November 2022, at a price of £3,015,777.5 or £1,507,889.75 per annum or with the option to extend for further periods of up to 2 years with a maximum contract value of £6,031,555.

2.    The award of a contract to Ourris Residential Homes Limited for the block purchasing of 11 residential care beds at Anastasia Lodge, for an initial period of 2 years from 1st November 2022 at a cost of £917,664 (£458,832 pa) with the option to extend the contract for further periods of up to 2 years with a maximum contract value of £1,835,328. 

3.    The delegation of contract extensions to the Director of Adults, Health & Communities.

Reasons for decision

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.

Entering into these contracts will result in the Council continuing to secure access to specialist provision as the care homes specialise in the care and support of Greek and Cypriot older people and maintaining much needed residential and nursing care capacity within the sub-region.

The proposed arrangements will yield efficiencies in commissioning costs by continuing to secure a reduced purchasing rate per placement through a block contract as compared to existing spot placement rates.

Alternative options considered

The alternative options available to the Council are to either ‘do nothing’ or to conduct an open tender arrangement to commission a new block arrangement. The reasons these options have been discounted are noted below:

a)        Doing nothing may 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. Doing nothing would also likely mean the Council having to either pay an increased spot rate to the provider or find alternative accommodation for the residents placed under the previous block contracts. Either option would create issues, be that a budget pressure for the former, or significant unacceptable disruption to residents for the latter.

b)        The other option would be for the Council to establish the new block contract via an open tender process. This has not been pursued for the following reason:

·         There is a limited market in culturally specialist provision for Greek and Cypriot older people, and there are no care homes of a similar size sub-regionally (i.e. within North Central London) capable of meeting a requirement to support 36 residents. This has been established through market engagement conducted by the commissioning unit as well as the limited culturally specific homes in the region registered by the Care Quality Commission.  Given the state of the market therefore there is no realistic alternative to awarding the contracts to Ourris Properties Ltd and Ourris Residential Home Ltd