South Staffordshire PCT, North Staffordshire PCT and Stoke on Trent PCT (Staffordshire Cluster of PCTs) are seeking expressions of interest to deliver Out of Hours Services within Staffordshire.

Staffordshire is divided into 6 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) which of the following may, in whole or part, be included in the commissioning of these sevices:

North Staffordshire CCG; Stoke on Trent CCG; Stafford and Surrounds CCG; Cannock CCG; East Staffordshire CCG; South East Staffordshire and Seisdon CCG.

There are two existing services related to this tender across Staffordshire and both services will be tendered using a revised service specification incorporating the changes necessitated by the development of the 111 service across the West Midlands. It is the intention of the Commissioners to award 2 contract to the successful bidder(s):

Lot One:

Northern Staffordshire - covering the populations of North Staffordshire PCT and Stoke on Trent PCT.

Lot Two:

Southern Staffordshire - covering the populations of East Staffordshire CCG and South East Staffordshire CCG (excluding Seisdon).

We want to commission a high quality General Practitioner Out of Hours medical service (GPOOHs) and would like to hear from prospective bidders. We are looking for forward thinking, innovative solutions for the delivery of primary care within Staffordshire; ensuring a service that integrates with other providers to achieve an improved patient pathway and experience, high quality service and reduction in unnecessary A&E attendances and admissions.

The tender process will be run as an open tender, with 1 key Bidder participating milestone:

Invitation to Tender.

It should be noted that there may be two separate ITTs issued for this procurement process and there may be differences in timescales. In any event, each Lot will be evaluated independently.

Service requirements.

To provide a comprehensive primary care GPOOHs service that fully integrates with other urgent care services (including the new 111 service across the West Midlands) during the out of hours period. The service will include call handling, telephone triage (although this will be limited through the implementation of the 111 service), face to consultations at base and patient's homes delivered by GPs and potentially other healthcare professionals eg nurse practitioners.

It should be noted that the service specification may, subject to confirmation, include a requirement for the successful bidder(s)to provide the following additional services on an ad hoc basis:

— early supported discharge services,

— temporary minor injuries unit services,

— GP facilitated hospital discharge,

— GP services to augment A&E department services,

— Single Point of Contact for various other services at specified times.

The service is to be provided to Staffordshire patients totalling 490 000 in Northern Staffordshire and 437 000 patients in Southern Staffordshire who are registered with the 145 practices who have opted out of OOH cover under the GMS regulations (55 practices for Northern Staffordshire and 91 practices for Southern Staffordshire).

It is expected that the contract will be the Alternative Provider Medical Serices (APMS) Contract, the likely term is 3 years.

The anticipated contract start date is 1.4.2013 with an estimated three months for implementation of the service (beginning in January 2013). The procurement will have TUPE implications.