Provision to support Enhanced support to the independent care sector

North of England Commissioning Support (NECS) is bidding for work to deliver enhanced support to the independent care sector, which includes residential & nursing care providers, home care providers and extra care housing providers of services for older people, people with learning disabilities and physical disabilities.

The project consists of three phases: • Phase I – Stocktake The provider(s) will work together to undertake a stocktake of the care sector forums in existence across the country, including key information such as the Chair, location, membership and date established.

This will also include the gap analysis of where no such forums or groups exist. • Phase II – Development of Best Practice The provider(s) will undertake a baseline assessment of the current care sector forums in place and will identify those that are working well.

Analysis of these forums will take place in order to identify best practice criteria and conditions to ensure forums work well, are effective at building relationships and have impact on improving services locally.

This should also include practical ‘top tips’ for establishing care sector forums.

The information and data will be collated by the provider(s) with support from the NHS England PMO team and the Independent Care Sector Steering Group members, to produce a Quick Guide.

The Quick Guide audience will need to be generic and accessible for both providers and commissioners across health and social care to enable good practice care sector forums to be run and/or established. • Phase III – Improvement and Setup The provider(s) will work with forums that, during baseline assessment, have been identified as requiring support and improvement needs, in order to ensure the best practice found in phase II is embedded.

The Provider(s) will also work with areas identified that have no such forums in place, identifying appropriate leads (e.g.

CCG or Local Authority) to establish a forum in that local area, using the best practice guidance, with the aim of increasing the number of forums established across the country.

The areas the Provider(s) will work with will be signed off by NHS England, and should be mapped against DToC performance and other factors such as rate of emergency admissions.

It is expected that Provider(s) will indicate the number of areas / forums they are able to work with during this phase within the given resources available for the contract.

NECS invites organisations to quote to support NECS with all 3 phases relating to national, regional and local relationships & resources to support independent care providers.