Agenda item

Report CS18051

The Committee considered a report setting out the findings of a review of the performance of Service Level Agreements with Bromley GP Practices for the delivery of specified Public Health programmes and outlining the 2018/19 commissioning intentions for the NHS Health Check Service and Sexual Health Services.

All registered GP Practices in the Borough had signed up via Individual Service Level Agreements to deliver one or more elements of specific Public Health programmes from 2014 to 2018.  44 out of the 45 registered GP Practices provided the mandated NHS Health Check Service and all registered GP Practices provided Sexual Health Services.  Performance by GP Practices varied, however all participating GP Practices had been identified as meeting the required clinical and quality standards specified in the Service Level Agreements and were able to achieve significantly more checks than any previous providers in a community setting.  Due to an overall reduction in the percentage of NHS Health Checks, the need to appoint an alternative provider had been identified and following a pilot project, Bromley GP Alliance had been identified as suitable based on the number of checks undertaken during the pilot project and the provider’s unique ability to establish an Information Sharing Agreement with all participating GP Practices to enable access to patient records.  It was therefore proposed that an exemption from tendering be granted to support the continuation of NHS Health Checks and Sexual Health Services in primary care by enabling the Director of Public Health to establish a new round of Service Level Agreements with GP Practices for three years from 1^st April 2018 to 31^st March 2021.  It was also proposed that an exemption from tendering be granted to appoint Bromley GP Alliance as an alternative provider of NHS Health Checks through a Service Level Agreement for a period of three years from 1^st April 2018 to 31^st March 2021.

The Committee noted that whilst there were other providers for NHS health checks, it was a statutory requirement that any results from NHS health checks had to be recorded on patient health file held by GPs. There had been issues with the process for ensuring that the test results were appropriately recorded on the files.  In addition to this there were eligibility criteria for testing and GPs held a patient register from which eligible patients were invited for testing.

RESOLVED that the Council’s Executive be recommended to:

1)  Approve the award of Service Level Agreements to GPs for the provision of NHS Health Checks and Sexual Health Services by granting an exemption from tendering as per Sections 3 and 13 of the Council’s contract procedure rules for a period of three years from 1^st April 2018 to 31^st March 2021; and,

2)  Approve an exemption from tendering under Sections 3 and 13 of the Council’s contract procedure rules and award a contract to Bromley GP Alliance as an Alternative Provider of NHS Health Checks for a period of three years from 1^st April 2018 to 31^st March 2021.