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Ambulance Trust awarded integrated urgent care contract
Published on Jan 22, 2019
NHS Commissioners in Yorkshire and the Humber have today (22 January 2019) announced that Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust has been awarded a contract to provide integrated urgent care services across the region for the next five years.
The contract, worth £17.6 million in 2019/20, has been , including being able to issue prescriptions and increasing the number of bookings into GP and urgent care appointments.
Agencies across the Yorkshire and Humber region have worked together to commission NHS 111 telephony, a call handling service and core Clinical Advice Service (CAS). The contract award follows a nine-month long procurement process undertaken on behalf of the region’s twenty-one Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) along with NHS England North Region - Yorkshire and the Humber.
Yorkshire Ambulance Service currently provides the NHS 111 service across Yorkshire and the Humber. The Trust is now working with commissioners to implement the new service, which will start on 1 April 2019.
Martin Pursey, Head of Contracting and Procurement at NHS Greater Huddersfield CCG, which is the lead commissioning organisation for the service, said: “I have confidence that by working together with the ambulance service, we will be in a strong position to meet the ongoing and developing requirements in respect of integrated urgent care across our region and through this, ensure that more people receive care and support out of hospital”.
Rod Barnes, Chief Executive of Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said: “Having provided the region’s high performing and well regarded NHS 111 service for the last six years, the opportunity for the Trust to transition to the new Integrated Urgent Care service is warmly welcomed.
“In line with our Trust’s strategic ambitions to ensure patients and communities experience fully joined-up care responsive to their needs and with excellent outcomes, we are excited to have the opportunity to develop our NHS 111 service to deliver integrated urgent car through collaboration with primary care colleagues, other providers and commissioners.”
Notes to editors
- The current NHS 111 contract with Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust comes to an end on 31 March 2019.
- The indicative value of the contract for 60 months from April 2019 is £92 million.
- Commissioners set up a collaborative procurement programme and steering group to manage the process. NHS Greater Huddersfield CCG is the lead commissioner for this service and is responsible overall for the contract.
- A competitive dialogue procurement process was used because it allows potential providers and the commissioning organisations to bring together their knowledge and expertise to develop solutions.
- The procurement process was undertaken between April 2018 and December 2018. A preferred bidder was identified and the recommendation to award the contract made to commissioning organisations in December 2018. Commissioners subsequently confirmed their support of the recommendation through their own governance arrangements. Feedback from services users informed the development of the new service specification and a citizens’ panel was involved in the procurement process.
- The new contract is in line with a new national NHS England specification for the provision of an integrated 24/7 urgent care service.
Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust
Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust covers almost 6,000 square miles of varied terrain from isolated moors and dales to urban areas, coastline and inner cities and provides 24-hour emergency and healthcare services to a population of more than five million people. The organisation receives an average of 2,500 emergency and routine calls per day and employs over 5,000 staff.
Clinical Commissioning Groups
NHS Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven CCG
NHS Bradford City CCG
NHS Bradford Districts CCG
NHS Leeds CCG
NHS Calderdale CCG
NHS Greater Huddersfield CCG
NHS North Kirklees CCG
NHS Wakefield CCG
NHS Harrogate and Rural District CCG
NHS East Riding of Yorkshire CCG
NHS Hull CCG
NHS North East Lincolnshire CCG
NHS North Lincolnshire CCG
NHS Scarborough and Ryedale CCG
NHS Vale of York CCG
NHS Barnsley CCG
NHS Bassetlaw CCG
NHS Doncaster CCG
NHS Rotherham CCG
NHS Sheffield CCG
NHS Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby CCG
For further information:
NHS Greater Huddersfield CCG
Aimee Haggas, Senior PR and Communications Officer, on: 01484 464145 or email: aimee.haggas@greaterhuddersfieldccg.nhs.uk
Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust
Tel 0845 120 0048
Email yas.pressoffice@nhs.net