Description
Launched in 2011, the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway (OPD) is a jointly funded partnership between HMPPS and the NHS in England and Wales. It is a long-term change programme that commissions treatment and support services nationally for individuals with some of the most complex mental health needs linked to their offending. Whilst a diagnosis is not required to access services, these needs are characterised as a ‘personality disorder’. Services for people within scope are delivered across prisons, Adult Secure Mental Health Services, and community settings. The OPD is not a single service, but a connected system of interventions, activities, training, and staff support.
The OPD Pathway plans to commission a clinical provider for a non-residential OPD intervention service for women in HMP YOI Low Newton. Operating in partnership with HMPPS, the service will provide one of the progressive steps along the pathway for women who present the highest/ most immediate risk of serious harm to others and have the most complex needs who screen into the OPD Pathway.
The service is currently commissioned through a service level agreement (SLA) that was established prior to the formal development of the OPD programme.
The service in question, currently delivered by an NHS Trust and known as the Primrose Service, will engage with up to 12 women on a static basis at any one time, and a smaller number on a dynamic basis (likely to be around 5 maximum). This is not a residential provision however the women are accommodated together on a specific wing at the prison to provide a psychologically safe milieu during their time in the OPD service. The static provision involves a day treatment model delivered at a specific location in the establishment. The dynamic spaces are in place for outreach work delivered to women on other locations in the prison who either need stabilisation, preparation for access to the static service, or post-intervention work.
Pathway Outcomes:
The service should work towards the 4 high level aims of the OPD Pathway, and the treatment service will have additional specific features. Further detail can be found in the Service Overview Document which can be provided by emailing MoJProcurement.Off@justice.gov.uk
The proposal is to award a five year contract, subject to ongoing funding.
We are seeking input from interested suppliers to respond to market engagement questions, to help the Authority better understand market appetite, capacity and capability for this requirement. The feedback received will also inform the development of the specification and overall procurement approach. Please note that this is the first stage of engagement; a further round of market engagement is planned, during which the Authority intends to share the draft specification for additional supplier input, with the opportunity for questions and deeper discussion.