Integrated Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Speech and Language Therapy Service

<p>This is a soft market testing and request for information for the development and delivery of an Integrated Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Speech and Language Therapy Service for Children and Young People with an Education, Care and Health Plan (EHCP) across Wokingham, Reading and West Berkshire (Berkshire West).</p>
<p>The purpose of this advert is to investigate the market to assess the level of interest in providing a specialist Integrated Therapy Service across the Berkshire West area.</p>
<p>Wokingham Borough Council, Brighter Futures for Children Reading and West Berkshire Council are currently assessing future delivery options for an Integrated Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Speech and Language Therapy Service for Children and Young People with an Education, Care and Health Plan (EHCP). The information received from interested parties will be used to inform options about future provision of these services.</p>
<p>The Councils are planning to undertake a competitive tender process in early 2022 to procure the service.</p>
<p>Towards informing this process and developing an appropriate and innovative service specification, this market testing exercise seeks independent views to support and shape the procurement activity.</p>
<p>The vision for integrated therapy service is still being developed and this soft market testing exercise will feed into the service specification. However, we are seeking to develop and encourage innovative approaches to working with children, families &amp; communities to improve therapy outcomes for children across Berkshire West. The integrated therapy service will have the child and their family at its centre with a strong focus on outcomes, underpinned by a robust evidence base. There will be safe clinical governance, and strong information governance. Safeguarding will be at the core of all work. There will be robust monitoring systems that evidence the scale of reach across the Berkshire West area and the impact that therapies have on the lives of children and their families.</p>
<p>This exercise is not part of any pre-qualification or selection process. It is intended as an awareness, communication and information-gathering exercise offering an opportunity for potential providers to help understand commissioning intentions and offer opportunities for potential future providers to start thinking about integrated service delivery models.</p>
<p>It is intended that the service will commence on 1 September 2022 for an initial period of 5 years with the potential for up to 3 further extensions of 1 year.</p>
<p>Final communication on the number of sessions, their format, date, and time will be sent closer to the end date for expressions of interest. The meeting/s will take place between 15/11/2021 and 19/11/2021.</p>