NHS England - Improving GPs' Access to Mental Health Support

PLEASE NOTE THIS PIN IS A DUPLICATION OF OJEU REFERENCE NUMBER 2015/S 250-457923 AND THE PREVIOUS EARLY ENGAGEMENT NOTICE PUBLISHED ON CONTRACTS FINDER ON 24TH DECEMBER 2015. Previous OJEU and contracts finder notices were: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/8f77e864-419c-47e7-8510-0e7c5f0bcb8c http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:457923-2015:TEXT:EN:HTML NHS ENGLAND WELCOME RESPONSES FROM ADDITIONAL PROVIDERS. YOU DO NOT NEED TO TAKE ANY ACTION IF YOU RESPONDED TO OJEU PIN NOTICE 2015/S 250-457923 FOR THE MARKET ENGAGEMENT EXERCISE. NHS Arden & Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (NHS Arden & GEM CSU) on behalf of NHS England is carrying out a market engagement exercise for the provision of services to improving GPs’ Access to Mental Health Support. The purpose of this PIN is to notify the market of a forthcoming procurement. The procurement will seek to appoint a provider(S) that can deliver a service which can improve access to GP's Mental Health Support. Increasing pressures in general practice are one of the reasons why GPs leave the profession. NHS England and key partners are currently delivering several initiatives to support General Practice including Supporting Vulnerable Practices, the Workforce Action Plan, the Primary Care Transformational Fund, and a new national Occupational Health (OH) Specification. In addition to plans to publish a single national Occupational Health specification, which will ensure far greater consistency in the OH support for GPs across the country, Simon Stevens, Chief Executive, announced in September 2015 that NHS England would go further and look to develop additional services to Improve GPs’ Access to Mental Health Support including combatting issues like stress and burnout. We are currently working closely with our partners to scope out what such a service would be, with a view to putting in place a nationally available service in 2016. Early scoping has informed us that there are several ways which a national service could be delivered; through local providers in different geographies, or by a single lead provider through a hub and spoke structure. There are also several different pathways and services which could be offered to support GP’s Mental Health and Addiction including: •Point of access to the service via various methods i.e. telephone / website; •alternative methods of access via the internet, social media and people have a response back by a suitably qualified clinician/councillor; •Initial contact and assessment/consultation with a suitably qualified clinician/councillor; •Assessment, intervention, and follow-up short term or long term treatment options; •Co-ordination of further care or advice and onward referral into other NHS services with the appropriate skills and resources to meet their needs; •Outreach and leadership in local areas to promote awareness and preventative means to support GPs’ Mental Health.