NHSE877 Dental Electronic Referral Management System Request for Information (RFI)

North of England Commissioning Support (NECS) is a care system support organisation hosted by NHS England and is working for and on behalf of NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (the Contracting Authority), who are conducting a Request for Information (RFI) exercise in order to gain a better understanding of the capacity and appetite of the market to deliver Dental Electronic Referral Management System (DeRMS) across the ICB footprint.

The aims and objectives is to manage the appropriate clinical demand and allocation of referrals initially for the following services: • Oral surgery services across the North East and North Cumbria, excluding non-elective referrals and those referrals where the General Dental practitioner suspects a malignancy. • Orthodontic services across the North East and North Cumbria • Basic Sedation for Anxiety Management (Durham, Darlington, and Tees only) • Provide clinicians with a single mechanism to refer patients that require specialist and specialised NHS dental services. • Support improvements in the quality of referrals to support effective triage. • Ensure the appropriateness of referrals requiring specialist and specialised NHS dental services. • Deliver efficiencies in the existing referral process. • Provide accurate referral information to support clinical service evaluation, development and inform future commissioning intentions. • Achieve value for money.

The DeRMS, in this instance, should be differentiated from a generic Electronic Referral Management Service (ERMS) as Commissioners deem the clinical triage of referrals as a critical element of this service.

It is proposed that the contract will be offered under the terms of the NHS Personal Dental Service (PDS) Agreement Regulations 2005 effective for an initial period of 3-years with the option to extend the contract by 2-years at the discretion of the Contracting Authority and subject to satisfactory financial and contractual performance.

It is important to note that this PIN/RFI is not a call for competition and as such potential providers will need to express an interest in any future tender opportunity once a contract notice is published on Find a Tender Service and Contracts Finder.

The RFI documentation will be accessible from 12:00 on 07 August 2023 and completed RFI responses must be submitted before 12 noon 21 August 2023.