Issue - meetings

Report CS17046

The Care Services Portfolio Holder introduced a report setting out the Public Health commissioning intentions for the delivery of the Substance Misuse Service, NHS Health Checks and Community Sexual Health Service for 2017/18 which were funded by the Public Health grant. 

The proposed commissioning arrangements relating to the Substance Misuse Service included the components on Adults and Young People Substance Misuse Services, Supervised Administration of Methadone, and Needle Exchange Service.  Adults and Young People Substance Misuse Services had been subject to a tendering process in 2015 following which new contracts worth £1.4m per annum were awarded to Change Grow Live for a period of two years from 1^st December 2015 to 30^th November 2017 with a possible one year extension, and as the provider continued to meet performance requirements and deliver efficiencies, it was proposed to extend this contract for a further year to 30^th November 2018.  Both Supervised Administration of Methadone (SAM) and Needle Exchange Services were procured through the Public Health Framework Agreement and were delivered by Community Pharmacies at locations which were easily accessible in the community and where services could be offered safely and securely with the opportunity to promote healthy living and wellbeing.  As there was no other clinical provider who could cover such a wide geographical area, the proposal was to continue with these arrangements by extending the Community Pharmacy call-off contracts for these services for a further year to 31^st March 2018 at a cost of £29k per annum for SAM and £15k per annum for the Needle Exchange.

The NHS Health Checks Programme was a mandated Public Health Programme with the aim of preventing vascular diseases including heart disease and diabetes and raising awareness of dementia.  Eligible patients were identified through GP registers, with GP practices the main provider of NHS Health Checks, and the model of delivery was through a ‘one stop shop’ with Point of Care Testing used to allow the patient to receive a complete check at the time of their assessment.  Alere was commissioned through the Public Health Framework Agreement to provide the equipment, consumables and training for Point of Care Testing, as well as a quality management service to ensure the accuracy of results.  As there was a very limited number of providers of this service and Alere was the only provider that had applied to be appointed to the Public Health Framework Services Framework and continued to make improvements to maintain service quality, it was proposed to extend the Alere contract for a further year to 31^st March 2018 at a cost of £100k per annum and to continue the use of GP Service Level Agreements.

A range of providers were commissioned through the Public Health Framework Agreement to deliver sexual health services in the community.  Community Pharmacies offered Chlamydia screening and treatment and Emergency Hormonal Contraception for young people at accessible locations where services could be offered in a discreet and confidential manner.  The Doctor Laboratory provided a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34