Issue - meetings

Report CS17019

The Care Services Portfolio Holder introduced a report outlining proposed commissioning arrangements for the Health Visiting Service and the Family Nurse Partnership from 1^st October 2017.  The report also set out work being undertaken by Officers to explore options around integrating these services with the Early Intervention and Family Support service and requesting that this work be continued as a priority to ensure that services were run as efficiently and effectively as possible.

The Health Visiting Service was a universal service from pregnancy to five years which undertook five mandated reviews, referred families to additional support where appropriate, and had a key safeguarding role which included providing long term support to vulnerable families.  The responsibility for commissioning the Health Visiting service, which had an annual budget of £3,454k, had been transferred to the Local Authority in October 2015, and was delivered by Bromley Healthcare via a joint block contract with the Bromley Clinical Commissioning Group which would end on 30^th September 2017.

The Family Nurse Partnership was a small team of four family nurses and a full-time coordinator that provided intensive support to up to 50 vulnerable young mothers in each of Bromley and Bexley, and had demonstrated a number of beneficial outcomes, including in the performance of Public Health Outcome Indicators on the rate of under 18 years conceptions, with the proportion of teenage mothers in Bromley significantly lower than the England average.  This service, which had an annual budget of £180k, was a non-mandated service and was currently delivered by Bromley Healthcare through a joint block contract with the London Borough of Bexley which would end on 31^st March 2017.

In considering proposed future commissioning arrangements for these services, two options had been explored and it was recommended that  Option 1 be progressed which proposed to tender for reconfigured Health Visiting and Family Nurse Partnership services as a single contract which would focus on the mandated parts of the service and identify savings by delivering the service in a more efficient way, and that Officers continue to consider how an integrated service would best work to realise maximum efficiencies in the longer term.

RESOLVED that the Council’s Executive be recommended to:

1)  Agree the extension of the contract with Bromley Healthcare for the provision of the Family Nurse Partnership service for a period of six months from 1^st April 2017 to 30^th September 2017 at an estimated cost of £90k in order to align with the Health Visiting Service;

2)  Agree the Local Authority tenders the Health Visiting and Family Nurse Partnership services as a single contract for a period of three years from 1^st October 2017 to 30^th September 2020 at an estimated cost of £10,902k; and,

3)  Note the work being undertaken by Officers to identify future opportunities around integrating these services with the Early Intervention and Family Support service and agree that this work be continued as a priority to ensure that services are  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11