NHS Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (NHS Arden and GEM CSU) on behalf of NHS Southern Clinical Commissioning Group (SDCCG) acting as lead Commissioners on behalf of the Derbyshire CCGs including NHS Erewash, Hardwick Derbyshire and North Derbyshire CCGs are inviting suitably qualified providers who are capable of delivering Wheelchair Services for Adults and Children across Derbyshire.

The service will assess children, young people and adults, and provide wheelchairs and all associated equipment as appropriate based on broad categories of need, in line with the agreed Eligibility Criteria.

The combined registered population of the 4 CCGs is 1,003,439. Of these, 19,029 (1,9 %) are currently registered with the Wheelchair Service.

The health and social care system in Derbyshire has come together as “Joined Up Care Derbyshire”, to transform the health and well-being of the local population, and ensure that the right services are delivered in a sustainable way.

A key focus of this work is supporting people to remain independent. Locally delivered, proactive care will ensure that needs are identified and solutions put into place at an early stage, reducing the need for crisis-led reactive care. There will be a significant shift in resources from acute settings to multi-disciplinary teams, coordinating care in local “places”. The provider will work collaboratively as part of the wider health and social system to ensure that the Wheelchair Service is fully embedded into this new way of working.

The overall objective of the Service is to ensure that the clinical needs and outcomes of patients who meet the Eligibility Criteria (attached as Appendix 1) for a wheelchair in Derbyshire are met in the most cost effective way. In order to achieve this, the Service aims are to:

— Improve the pace of the delivery of children’s wheelchairs, so that by April 2019, all children and young people receive their wheelchair and any associated accessories within a maximum of 18 weeks from the date of referral. This is a mandatory, national minimum requirement,

— Ensure that no child, under any circumstances, waits 26 weeks or more receive their wheelchair and any associated accessories from the date of referral,

— Improve the pace of the delivery of adult’s wheelchairs, so that from April 2019, all adults receive their wheelchair and any associated accessories within a maximum of 18 weeks from the date of referral,

— Ensure that no adult, under any circumstances, waits 52 weeks or more to receive their wheelchair and any associated accessories from the date of referral,

— Improve the quality of assessment by ensuring that all urgent assessments are completed within 2 weeks of referral, and standard assessments are completed within 6 weeks of referral,

— Improve the stock control and procurement of wheelchairs, accessories, parts, and bespoke seating, so that basic stock items are handed over within 2 weeks of prescription, orders from suppliers are handed over within 6 weeks of prescription, and bespoke items are handed over within a maximum of 12 weeks of prescription,

— Implement a step change in patient choice and control, through the articulation of a clear NHS offer and eligibility criteria, the mainstreaming of Personal Wheelchair Budgets, patient recorded outcome measures, and consistent use of patient engagement and feedback,

— Ensure that the right data is captured, in the right way and at the right time, so that service development and future commissioning decisions are taken in the most informed and robust way possible.

During the contract period, the Service will:

— develop a ‘chair in a day’ scheme, so that as many patients as possible are provided with a suitable wheelchair at their first appointment. This scheme must be implemented within the first twelve months of the contract period. (See Section 3.2.2),

— implement a model for personal wheelchair budgets, so that all children and young people, and all adults with a medium, high and specialist need wheelchair have a personal wheelchair budget. (See Section 3.2.27 for further information). For agreed national definitions of low, medium, high and specialist need, please refer to Appendix 2,

— provide a range of equipment at discounted rates to patients who wish to purchase their own equipment following assessment by the Service,

— establish a mechanism for joint funding of wheelchairs, with social care, education and Access to Work, where these agencies wish to contribute towards the cost of a higher specification wheelchair that meets social care, educational or employment needs / outcomes,

— ‘shadow’ the use of currencies and tariffs for wheelchair services, developed by NHS England and currently being piloted nationally. The commissioners anticipate that a national tariff for wheelchairs may become a mandatory national requirement during the life of the contract.