PRJ1105 - AQP Community Audiology Services - Waltham Forest - NEL CCG

<p>This notice informs the market of North East London CCG's intention to re-open of the expression of interest window for the Waltham Forest AQP contract for Community Audiology services.</p>
<p>New providers who wish to join the AQP are required to submit an expression of interest in response to this notice before the stated deadline. Should one or more new providers express an interest, a due diligence exercise will be completed in January/February 2022 with invitations to take part sent to only those providers who submit an expression of interest in response to this notice. Following the due diligence process, any successful applicants will join the AQP from 01/04/2022 with contracts running to 30/09/2023. Existing WF AQP Audiology providers will be offered extensions of existing contracts to 30/09/2023.</p>
<p>The aim of the service is to provide a comprehensive patient-centred direct access adult hearing service for age related hearing loss in line with national guidance and local requirements.<br />The vision for people with age related hearing problems is for them to receive, high quality, efficient services delivered closer to home, with short waiting times and high responsiveness to the needs of local communities, free at the point of access.</p>
<p>Key principles of an integrated hearing service, within which the Adult Hearing Service operates, is to:<br />&bull; Contribute to improving the health and occupational health focus on hearing loss<br />&bull; Contribute to reducing prevalence of avoidable permanent hearing loss<br />&bull; Encourage early identification, diagnosis and management of hearing loss through improved patient and professional education<br />&bull; Provide person-centred care and respond to information and psychosocial needs<br />&bull; Support communication needs by providing timely signposting to lip reading classes, assistive technologies and other rehabilitation services beneficial to the patient<br />&bull; Promote inclusion and participation of people who are deaf or hard of hearing<br />&bull; Compliance with clinical guidance and good practice</p>
<p>The Adult Hearing Service is aimed at adults aged 18 and over experiencing difficulties with their hearing and communication (with suspected or diagnosed age related hearing loss) where a GP considers they may benefit from hearing assessment and care, including the option of trying hearing aids to reduce these difficulties.</p>
<p>The indicative value for the 18 month AQP contract is &pound;350,000 excluding VAT. Contract value figures quoted in this notice are indicative only, based on historic activity volumes, and are subject to change given the nature of AQP contracts. &nbsp;Please note that AQP contracts awarded will have no minimum contract value as the contract value for a particular AQP provider will be dependent on activity and patient choice.</p>
<p>Interested providers must express an interest via the Pro-contract e-tendering portal by submitting a message using the portal messaging facility confirming their interest in joining the AQP before 14/01/2022 at 12.00 (noon).</p>
<p>The service specification, including tariff information, is available for download on the tender portal at the link shown below.</p>
<p>Organisations wishing to express an interest in joining the AQP need to register on the ProContract portal if they are not registered already. This can be done by clicking the below link and completing the registration process.</p>
<p>https://procontract.due-north.com/Register</p>
<p>Once registered and logged in, providers can express an interest in this project and submit the EOI via the portal EOI stage:<br /><br /><a class="govuk-link break-word" href="../../Advert?advertId=c3ba27de-0f5e-ec11-8110-005056b64545" target="_blank" rel="noopener" aria-label="https://procontract.due-north.com/Advert?advertId=c3ba27de-0f5e-ec11-8110-005056b64545 (opens in a new window)">https://procontract.due-north.com/Advert?advertId=c3ba27de-0f5e-ec11-8110-005056b64545</a><br /><br />An expression of interest in joining the AQP must be submitted via the ProContract e-tendering portal. Please note that any expressions of interests by any other means will not be considered.<br /><br />The deadline for expression of interest is 12:00 (noon) on 14 January 2022. Any expressions of interest received after this deadline will not be considered.<br /><br />Please note that the AQP contracts will be awarded without further publication. Interested organisations must express their interest as instructed in this notice if they wish to take part in this procurement process. Should one or more new AQP providers express an interest before the stated deadline, AQP due-diligence questionnaires will be issued to these providers for completion in January 2022. These will be assessed by the CCG to confirm whether providers meet the required criteria for joining the AQP.<br /><br />Any communications or clarification questions about this contract opportunity must be sent via the messaging facility for this project on the ProContract e-tendering portal. The deadline for any clarification questions is 12:00 (noon) on 7th January 2022.<br /><br />London Shared Services is managing this process on behalf of NHS North East London CCG (The Authority). The services to which this advert relates fall within Schedule 3 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (the Regulations) and the "Light Touch Regime" (LTR) governing the procurement of Health, Social, Education and Other service contracts. Neither the reference to the "Open Procedure", "ITT", "SQ", the use of the term "Tender process", nor any other indication shall be taken to mean that The Authority intends to hold itself bound to any of the Regulations, save those applicable to LTR provisions. Information relating to this procurement is provided in good faith, and may be subject to amendment by The Authority.</p>