he Strategic Projects Team (SPT) was formed in 2009 to lead the first ever competition to franchise the Hinchingbrooke Health Care NHS Trust. Since this ground-breaking project, SPT have delivered a portfolio of over £6 billion of strategic change for commissioners and providers, underpinned by sound commercial disciplines and innovation, synonymous with several NHS ‘firsts’.
he Strategic Projects Team (SPT) was formed in 2009 to lead the first ever competition to franchise the Hinchingbrooke Health Care NHS Trust. Since this ground-breaking project, SPT have delivered a portfolio of over £6 billion of strategic change for commissioners and providers, underpinned by sound commercial disciplines and innovation, synonymous with several NHS ‘firsts’.
The £800 million Cambridge and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) integrated care procurement is now complete with preferred bidder UnitingCare Partnership, as the lead provider to improve older people’s healthcare and adult community services across Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and parts of Northamptonshire and Hertfordshire. The Strategic Projects Team was chosen to manage this procurement – one of the largest of its kind to date. Andrew MacPherson, Managing Director of The NHS Strategic Projects Team commented: “We have worked with NHS Cambridge and Peterborough CCG since the onset of this programme to improve services for older people, particularly the elderly and frail, and adults with long term conditions, by providing healthcare as an increasingly ‘seamless’ service.”
“This is a five-year contract with options, giving a ‘Lead Provider’ time to invest in and transform services, and develop new ways of working. SPT will continue to work with all stakeholders to mobilise and typically for us, take the commissioner’s vision, from concept to completion as quickly as possible.”
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust with Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust formed UnitingCare Partnership, a Limited Liability Partnership, in order to compete for the programme’s aim is to improve services for older people, particularly the elderly and frail, and adults with long-term conditions.
UnitingCare Partnership will directly provide older people’s healthcare and adult community health services and hold the budget for the following services:
Urgent care for adults aged over 65 including inpatients as well as A&E services.
Mental health services for people aged over 65.
Adult (all people over 18) community health services for example, district nursing, rehabilitation and therapy after injury or illness, speech and language therapy, care for patients with complex wounds, support for people with respiratory disease or diabetes.
Other health services that support the care of people aged
over 65.
Andy Vowles, Chief Strategy Officer at Cambridge and Peterborough CCG said: “Managing this complex transformation programme was a challenging process and The Strategic Projects Team worked alongside the CCG to deliver a procurement which enables us to drive the innovation required to deliver better services for older people, particularly the elderly and frail, and adults with long term conditions, providing healthcare in more integrated way.” UnitingCare Partnership will now spend the next six months working with the programme team, preparing and putting everything in place in order to begin delivering services from 1 April 2015.
More NHS Commissioning ‘firsts’
The Cambridge and Peterborough procurement is not the only significant commissioning challenge The Strategic Project Team are currently involved in.
A pioneering programme to transform Cancer and End of Life Care in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent has recently announced the NHS and independent sector organisations which have reached the next stage of bidding, for two huge contracts to run cancer and end of life care services. Organisations including The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, United Health UK, University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, CSC Computer Sciences Ltd and Interserve Investments have all successfully pre-qualified to bid in the next stages of the procurement process for both contracts.
In a move which has divided opinions, four clinical commissioning groups are seeking to award two 10-year ‘prime provider’ contracts – one for cancer and one for end of life care – with a total value of £1.2 billion. The next stage in the procurement process and the Invitation to Submit Outline Solutions will be issued to bidders once the Programme has been reviewed to ensure alignment with the recently published NHS England ‘Five Year Forward View’ Strategic Plan. The Pre-Qualification Questionnaire was the first stage in a procurement process which will run until summer 2015 and no contracts will be agreed before the next General Election in May 2015.
With many CCGs already in discussions to integrate or reconfigure services across the country, SPT’s work in Cambridge and Peterborough, Staffordshire and elsewhere in the country is helping to build innovative ways to manage their own local health economies through these challenging times
