Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland integrated care board (LLR ICB) has awarded a 10-year contract to a social enterprise to deliver primary care services to its most vulnerable patients.
The Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS) contract has been given to Inclusion Healthcare Social Enterprise CIC for a 10-year term, with an optional five-year extension period.
The CIC will deliver specialist primary care services to the local homeless population, asylum seekers and patients who have been removed from routine general practice from 1 April 2025.
The indicative annual value of the contract for delivering this specialist service is £1,328,356.
LLR ICB said this is less than 1% of the £2.3 billion spent per annum on healthcare services for its population.
Rachna Vyas, deputy chief executive of the LLR ICB, said commissioning a single provider would provide high-quality health care to some of the most vulnerable patients.
‘The complex issues facing these patients include mental health complexities such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and trauma to compounding factors such as lifestyle, no secure accommodation, language barriers and long-term conditions.
‘By commissioning a single provider to deliver an integrated comprehensive specialist primary care service will ensure that the specialist services required for these groups of patients are delivered by the most appropriate healthcare professionals.
‘The contract will also mean that services are more accessible, better co-ordinated and deliver value for money,’ she said.
Inclusion Healthcare is the current provider of specialist GP services for marginalised groups, including the homeless population in Leicester City.
Dr Sarah Styles, GP and CEO at Inclusion Healthcare, said she was ‘extremely pleased and proud’ that LLR ICB had awarded the new contract.
‘Our not-for-profit organisation exists to improve the health and wellbeing of marginalised groups and we have years of experience in this area. Being awarded this contract enables us to continue to demonstrate our values of quality, efficiency, partnership, compassion, and respect to groups of patients who have complex health needs and risk of poor health outcomes,’ she said.
