Issue - meetings

Joint report of Directors for Adult Health and Social Care & Commissioning and Procurement

Lisa Lopez, Lead Commissioning Officer, presented the report, which sought approval to commission new overnight Short Breaks provision for children and young people with complex health needs, in order to meet the needs of the families and NCC’s statutory obligations as a local authority.

Ms Lopez stated that the proposed provision would include an emergency bed for young people with complex health needs, to support hospital discharge and avoid unnecessary hospital stays for the same cohort of young people, and the cost of this bed would be funded by NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CCG, who would also contribute to the costs of the overnight short breaks beds.

Resolved

(1)  to approve:

(a)  the procurement of a block contract for overnight short breaks for disabled children with complex health needs, as detailed in appendix 1, through an appropriate procurement process, and to award the contract(s) for the services based on the outcomes of the procurement process. The approved contract(s) would commence on 1 October 2023, for a five-year period, with an option to extend for a further three plus two years (i.e. 5+3+2, to a maximum of 10 years in total);

(b)  the expenditure of £7,600,000 (of which £2,850,000 is from Nottingham City Council funding) over the entirety of the contract(s) for the provision of the block contract for overnight short breaks for disabled children with complex health needs, as detailed in appendix 1;

(2)  to delegate authority to the:

(a)  Director for Commissioning and Procurement to approve the outcome of the procurement processes and award the contract(s) to the most suitable provider of these services;

(b)  Head of Contracting and Procurement to sign the final contract and agree extensions on the basis of performance and budget availability.

Reasons for recommendations

(i)  To provide high quality, overnight short breaks for children and young people with complex health needs and their families. ‘Short breaks’ provide opportunities for disabled children and young people to spend time away from their primary carers, providing a break for their families to support them to continue in their caring role, and for the children and young people to take part in activities and socialise with peers as part of their healthy development. Where the needs of the young person are highly complex, families are more likely to require overnight short breaks. No overnight provision exists locally which is able to support the young people of Nottingham City with the most complex health needs.

(ii)  The length of contract provides stability for this vulnerable group of children and young people who could spend up to 20% of their year on site and enables the children and young people and the facility to be seen and feel they are part of the community. Services which were historically commissioned by NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CCG to offer overnight breaks to children and young people with complex health needs have now closed, making it difficult to find appropriate breaks for their families. As of March 2022, there are  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7