Provision of Wheelchair and Posture Services for Children, Young People and Adults (Standard and Specialised)

This Intention to Award Notice is issued in accordance with the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. The Procurement relates to the Invitation to Tender for the provision of Wheelchair and Posture Services for Children, Young People and Adults (Standard and Specialised) in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

This Intention to Award Notice is issued in accordance with the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. The Procurement relates to the Invitation to Tender for the provision of Wheelchair and Posture Services for Children, Young People and Adults (Standard and Specialised) in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

The wheelchair and posture service will ensure that all service users registered with a GP within NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB (including Royston), who have a long-term illness or disability, have a better quality of life and are able to maximize their mobility through the provision of a wheelchair that meets their clinical needs.

The aim of the wheelchair and posture service is to maximize the mobility and independence and improve the quality of life for service users and their carers, through timely access to appropriate assessment, provision and maintenance of equipment. The Provider should respond to changes in service users' health conditions through regular review and deliver a positive user experience.

The service will have a focus on quality, value for money, and innovation, to ensure maximum benefit is accrued from resources.

The Provider is expected to contribute to achieving the following outcomes:

• Improvements in the functional health and social needs of users.
• Increased user choice and greater control.
• Improved access and responsiveness of assessment, handover and on-going support services.
• Ensure opportunities for users input into service development and re-design through regular feedback.
• Personalised care for all people accessing the service.
• Deliver higher levels of satisfaction from users with a baseline taken from the start of service.
• Deliver high levels of satisfaction from other health and social care professionals.
• Reduced social isolation.

•Improved quality of life for users and their families/carers.

The Provider will ensure the Wheelchair Service:

• Meets users' needs by ensuring that the user experience is positive in terms of the service they receive from using this service; that the service is accessible to all and delivers the right assessment, prescription and ensures the provision of a wheelchair and associated equipment that meets the users' clinical needs.
• Users receive a timely and efficient service to ensure that their mobility needs, and posture are met as quickly as possible, in accordance with the waiting time targets within this document.
• Maintains high levels of communication with service users throughout their journey with the service to always keep people informed.
• Holistic assessment is completed with each user and their carer/parent.
• Works with acute hospitals and community services in the facilitation of hospital discharges to ensure delays are not because of waiting for a wheelchair.
• Consistently evidence wheelchair users, their families/carers are happy with the service.
• Delivers continuous improvement throughout the lifetime of the contract using user feedback and complaints, lessons learnt, innovation, digital AI, Carbon Reduction Plan and stakeholder engagement.

This notice is an intention to award a contract under the competitive process.

The contract will be for a period of 5 years with the option to extend for up to a further 5 year period. The NHS Standard Contract (Short Form) terms and conditions will apply. The anticipated Contract go-live date is 1st April 2026. The approximate lifetime value including the available extension is £25,073,351.00

This is an existing service that is being re-commissioned, and it is being awarded to a new provider.