Decision details

West Sussex County Council (WSCC) has a contract with NRS Healthcare (NRS) for the provision of Community Equipment Services (CES). The CES provides equipment as well as advice, guidance and support for Community Equipment prescribers, patients and customers. It supports people to live as independently as possible in their own home, facilitates hospital discharge, and prevents unnecessary hospital admissions.

The CES contract is due to expire (subsequent to prior uptake of permissible extension periods) on 31 March 2022. The contract was awarded on 1 April 2015 for an initial period of 5 years with a 2-year extension option.

An additional 12-months is required to enable the full contract re-commissioning to incorporate the key aspects of the Department of Health’s ‘Urgent Community Response’ standards and to enable an Integrated Community Equipment Service (ICES) for West Sussex to be implemented (including the move to a pooled budget arrangement - with the associated process and financial efficiencies that this provides). It will also enable CES provision to be remodelled and the optimum re-commissioning strategy to be adopted for the next competitively tendered contract.

The Executive Director of Adults and Health has approved a modification to the current Community Equipment Service contract to extend the contract by 12-months via a single tender waiver. The cost of this will depend on decisions made by the County Council and the West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group as part of budget preparations for 2022/23 but is not expected to exceed £10.5m.

None.