Vanguard CCG tenders landmark new care model contract

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Dudley CCG begins procurement process for multispecialty community provider contract
MCP contract may include budgets for adult social care
Chief officer for Dudley CCG says it is the responsibility of providers to highlight risks and concerns about the MCP

Dudley Clinical Commissioning Group has become the first CCG to begin the procurement process for a multispecialty community provider.

The CCG has published a prior information notice, in partnership with Dudley metropolitan borough council, which confirms reports by HSJ in July that the MCP contract will be awarded to a single entity and be up to 15 years long.

The notice, published yesterday, says the services likely to be included in the contract are:

community based physical health services,
some outpatient services including urology, gynaecology, rheumatology and geriatric medicine;
primary medical services;
urgent care and primary care out of hours services;
adult social care services;
mental health services;
learning disability services;
end of life care; and
activities currently carried out by the CCG.

The CCG will hold a market engagement event on 19 January for prospective bidders.

A market engagement document, seen by HSJ, says the MCP will be in place by April 2018 and the council’s net adult social care budget for the CCG’s area could also be included in the contract.

It says: “There is potential for all or part of that adult social care provision, together with some or all of the related budget and functions (depending on the extent of the service in question) to be transferred to the MCP throughout the contract period.”

Elderly care

The MCP contract may include budgets for adult social care

Dudley CCG chief officer Paul Maubach told HSJ: “We won’t know the official form [of the MCP] until we get responses back from the first phase of the procurement process.”

However, he said it is “not possible” to create an MCP without primary care and the notice provides an opportunity for “potential partners to engage with GPs”.

In July, Dudley Group Foundation Trust raised concerns that plans to put the MCP contract out to tender would pose “significant risks” to its future.

Mr Maubach said: “One of the things the regulators quite rightly look to us for is that we understand the risks of the procurement and how are we mitigating them.

“We’re doing that piece if work but we can only do that with the information that our providers present to us.

“So our position on this is if the providers fail to adequately share with us the details that is their problem not ours. We are not going to slow the procurement process just for that.”

However, Mr Maubach said the CCG currently has a “positive dialogue” with the trust.

“Once we’ve been through [the procurement] process there will be two major health organisations in Dudley – there will be the MCP and the hospital.

“It’s really important not only to have the GPs engaged, but it’s also only going to be successful if we’ve got a really strong partnership between the hospital and the MCP,” he added.