Provision of Patient Transport System.
Prior information notice
Services
Section I: Contracting authority
I.1)Name, addresses and contact point(s)
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
7-8 Silver Fox Way, Cobalt Business Park
For the attention of: Patricia Cramman
NE27 0QJ Newcastle upon Tyne
UNITED KINGDOM
Telephone: +44 1912934000
E-mail:
Further information can be obtained from: The above mentioned contact point(s)
I.2)Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
I.3)Main activity
Health
I.4)Contract award on behalf of other contracting authorities
The contracting authority is purchasing on behalf of other contracting authorities: no
Section II.B: Object of the contract (Supplies or services)
II.1)Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority:
Provision of Patient Transport System.
II.2)Type of contract and place of delivery or of performance
Service category No 25: Health and social services
Northumberland and North Tyneside.
Northumberland and North Tyneside.
NUTS code UKC2
II.3)Information on framework agreement
II.4)Short description of nature and quantity or value of supplies or services:
PIN - NSECH - Base site Transfers
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (the "Trust”) would like to undertake a market consultation exercise to consider the options available in relation to a patient transport service between trust sites, from which a procurement strategy can be developed.
The Trust is currently building a new Specialist Emergency Care Centre (NSECH) in Cramlington due to open in June 2015. The new hospital will provide services 7 days a week and take over all the major A&E; presentations and emergency admissions from the three surrounding district general hospitals.
This will leave the current district general hospital sites to focus on providing elective care and treating those patients with minor illnesses and injuries. It is expected that a number of patients will be treated and sent home directly from NSECH, however there will also be a number of patients who are transferred back to a general hospital from the NSECH site, for a longer period of recovery and rehabilitation.
The Trust is looking for an innovative way of delivering this system for transferring these patients from NSECH to a general hospital site (or base site) and it is expected that the solution will encompass the following functionality:
Service Requirements
The service will be required to:
- Provide a regular, timetabled service between NSECH and the three district general hospital sites across the trust:
- North Tyneside General Hospital (NTGH),
- Wansbeck General Hospital (WGH),
- Hexham General Hospital (HGH),
- Operate 7 days a week including all bank holidays,
- Transfer up to approximately 70 patients a day from NSECH between the hours of 10:00 until 20:00 with possible extension until 22:00 during busy periods,
- Have a structured timetable of journeys whilst also having the flexibility to vary the timetable on the day and the number of trips to each site depending on the needs of the Trust.
- Have a booking system allowing for prior and on the day bookings.
The transport service will have to cater for patients with a range of needs mobility and clinical needs:
- Example mobility needs of patients will include the need to be:
- Transported on a stretcher
- Transported in a chair or with the assistance of two people
- Supported to walk or negotiate stairs with the assistance of one person
- There will also be the need to transport a number of bariatric patients
- Patients may also have the following clinical requirements:
- Oxygen (intermittent and continuous) at varying levels of concentration
- Drips and drains in situ (where possible, these would be disconnected for the duration of the journey, but there may be some where they may need to be continued)
- Immuno-compromised patients, or due to other health issues patients who are required to travel without other patients
- Those with infections (e.g. MRSA) so long as this is in compliance with the Trust infection control requirements
In addition to the patients requiring transport from NSECH to a general hospital site there may also be a small number of patients on a general hospital site requiring transport to NSECH, for example because they have inappropriately attended one of the Minor Injuries Unit. It is not expected that these will be large numbers or that the patients would be time critical, and seriously ill, and the Trust would be interested in understanding the feasibility of incorporating these transfers into the NSECH to general hospital transport system.
Staffing Requirements
The staff will be required to look after patients with a range of clinical needs and it would be expected that they have training in topics such as:
- Basic life support
- Oxygen therapy
- Advisory external defibrillation
- Dementia awareness
- End of Life Care
In addition staff will also need to have training for the other elements of their role such as:
- Advanced driving skills
- Moving and handling techniques
- Provisions of the Road Traffic Act.
The patient transfer service will need to run every day of the year and therefore there must be sufficient number of trained and competent staff to cover periods of staff holidays and absence.
Vehicle Requirements
It would be expected that there would be a range of vehicles available in order to meet the varying clinical and mobility needs of the patients. These vehicles must be maintained to a high standard of safety, reliability and roadworthiness and should be equipped with basic medical equipment.
Provision of Services
In addition to companies willing to provide the entirety of this service, the Trust would also be interested to hear from companies who can only provide some of the service, for example a company willing to just provide the vehicles.
Any organisations (tenderers) wishing to provide details of the types of solutions that they may be able to provide in respect of the outline requirement referred to above, and thereby assist in the development of the Trusts market place knowledge can do so by completing a market consultation questionnaire which can be downloaded from https://nep.eu-supply.com The deadline for completion of the questionnaire is 12 noon on Wednesday 28th May.
The Trust may decide to hold meetings with organisations that respond to this market consultation questionnaire within the first two weeks of June.
Please note that:
- Non-completion of the questionnaire will not disqualify organisations from participating in any future related tendering exercise and,
- The completion of the questionnaire will not remove the need to respond to and fully comply with any future related competitive Contract Notice.
Subject to finalising the scope of the requirement and obtaining approval to proceed, it is intended that the tendering exercise will be conducted under a Part A ‘Restricted' award procedure, with the relevant Contract Notice expected to be published in OJEU in July 2014. Tenderers will be required to provide their Tender response electronically using the Trusts e-tendering system. Further details can be found at www.northumbria.nhs.uk/corporate/become-a-supplier
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (the "Trust”) would like to undertake a market consultation exercise to consider the options available in relation to a patient transport service between trust sites, from which a procurement strategy can be developed.
The Trust is currently building a new Specialist Emergency Care Centre (NSECH) in Cramlington due to open in June 2015. The new hospital will provide services 7 days a week and take over all the major A&E; presentations and emergency admissions from the three surrounding district general hospitals.
This will leave the current district general hospital sites to focus on providing elective care and treating those patients with minor illnesses and injuries. It is expected that a number of patients will be treated and sent home directly from NSECH, however there will also be a number of patients who are transferred back to a general hospital from the NSECH site, for a longer period of recovery and rehabilitation.
The Trust is looking for an innovative way of delivering this system for transferring these patients from NSECH to a general hospital site (or base site) and it is expected that the solution will encompass the following functionality:
Service Requirements
The service will be required to:
- Provide a regular, timetabled service between NSECH and the three district general hospital sites across the trust:
- North Tyneside General Hospital (NTGH),
- Wansbeck General Hospital (WGH),
- Hexham General Hospital (HGH),
- Operate 7 days a week including all bank holidays,
- Transfer up to approximately 70 patients a day from NSECH between the hours of 10:00 until 20:00 with possible extension until 22:00 during busy periods,
- Have a structured timetable of journeys whilst also having the flexibility to vary the timetable on the day and the number of trips to each site depending on the needs of the Trust.
- Have a booking system allowing for prior and on the day bookings.
The transport service will have to cater for patients with a range of needs mobility and clinical needs:
- Example mobility needs of patients will include the need to be:
- Transported on a stretcher
- Transported in a chair or with the assistance of two people
- Supported to walk or negotiate stairs with the assistance of one person
- There will also be the need to transport a number of bariatric patients
- Patients may also have the following clinical requirements:
- Oxygen (intermittent and continuous) at varying levels of concentration
- Drips and drains in situ (where possible, these would be disconnected for the duration of the journey, but there may be some where they may need to be continued)
- Immuno-compromised patients, or due to other health issues patients who are required to travel without other patients
- Those with infections (e.g. MRSA) so long as this is in compliance with the Trust infection control requirements
In addition to the patients requiring transport from NSECH to a general hospital site there may also be a small number of patients on a general hospital site requiring transport to NSECH, for example because they have inappropriately attended one of the Minor Injuries Unit. It is not expected that these will be large numbers or that the patients would be time critical, and seriously ill, and the Trust would be interested in understanding the feasibility of incorporating these transfers into the NSECH to general hospital transport system.
Staffing Requirements
The staff will be required to look after patients with a range of clinical needs and it would be expected that they have training in topics such as:
- Basic life support
- Oxygen therapy
- Advisory external defibrillation
- Dementia awareness
- End of Life Care
In addition staff will also need to have training for the other elements of their role such as:
- Advanced driving skills
- Moving and handling techniques
- Provisions of the Road Traffic Act.
The patient transfer service will need to run every day of the year and therefore there must be sufficient number of trained and competent staff to cover periods of staff holidays and absence.
Vehicle Requirements
It would be expected that there would be a range of vehicles available in order to meet the varying clinical and mobility needs of the patients. These vehicles must be maintained to a high standard of safety, reliability and roadworthiness and should be equipped with basic medical equipment.
Provision of Services
In addition to companies willing to provide the entirety of this service, the Trust would also be interested to hear from companies who can only provide some of the service, for example a company willing to just provide the vehicles.
Any organisations (tenderers) wishing to provide details of the types of solutions that they may be able to provide in respect of the outline requirement referred to above, and thereby assist in the development of the Trusts market place knowledge can do so by completing a market consultation questionnaire which can be downloaded from https://nep.eu-supply.com The deadline for completion of the questionnaire is 12 noon on Wednesday 28th May.
The Trust may decide to hold meetings with organisations that respond to this market consultation questionnaire within the first two weeks of June.
Please note that:
- Non-completion of the questionnaire will not disqualify organisations from participating in any future related tendering exercise and,
- The completion of the questionnaire will not remove the need to respond to and fully comply with any future related competitive Contract Notice.
Subject to finalising the scope of the requirement and obtaining approval to proceed, it is intended that the tendering exercise will be conducted under a Part A ‘Restricted' award procedure, with the relevant Contract Notice expected to be published in OJEU in July 2014. Tenderers will be required to provide their Tender response electronically using the Trusts e-tendering system. Further details can be found at www.northumbria.nhs.uk/corporate/become-a-supplier
Lots
This contract is divided into lots: noII.5)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)
85100000, 85140000, 85143000
II.6)Scheduled date for start of award procedures
30.10.2014
II.7)Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The contract is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA): yes
II.8)Additional information:
Any organisations (tenderers) wishing to provide details of the types of solutions that they may be able to provide in respect of the outline requirement referred to above, and thereby assist in the development of the Trusts market place knowledge can do so by completing a market consultation questionnaire which can be downloaded from https://nep.eu-supply.com ID Number 17601. The deadline for completion of the questionnaire is 12:00 on 28.5.2014.
Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information
III.1)Conditions relating to the contract
III.1.1)Main financing conditions and payment arrangements and/or reference to the relevant provisions governing them:
III.2)Conditions for participation
III.2.1)Information about reserved contracts
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.1)Information about European Union funds
The contract is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: no
VI.2)Additional information:
VI.3)Information on general regulatory framework
VI.4)Date of dispatch of this notice:
14.5.2014