---
title: "GP Clinical Assessment Service - Cat 3 & 4"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-03b770"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-03b770"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03b770.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03b770.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "SOUTH CENTRAL AMBULANCE SERVICE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST"
published: "2023-03-30"
---

# GP Clinical Assessment Service - Cat 3 & 4

Buyer: SOUTH CENTRAL AMBULANCE SERVICE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-03b770

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## Summary

The South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust has awarded a contract for the provision of a GP Clinical Assessment Service for Cat 3 & 4 under Regulation 32(2) (b) (ii) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015. This service aims to allow for urgent care phone calls to be assessed by GPs over the telephone, reducing the dispatching of ambulances in cases where a different clinical solution would be more appropriate. The contract is valued at £3,651,515 GBP and was signed on 30th March 2023.

This tender presents business growth opportunities for healthcare providers specialised in GP services and medical personnel. The procurement stage is complete, and the method used was a Negotiated Procedure without the publication of a contract notice. The contract aims to achieve an 80% downgrade rate for urgent care calls needing an ambulance. The location of the service is within the United Kingdom, catering to the Health sector, specifically in general-practitioner services. The awarded supplier for this tender is East Berkshire Primary Care Out of Hours.

## Notice

Intention to award a Public Services Contract under Regulation 32(2) (b) (ii) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 for the provision of a GP Lead Clinical Assessment Service for Cat 3 & 4 - to allow for calls to the Urgent Care phone line to be assessed by GPs over the telephone, reducing the need for dispatching ambulances in cases where the medical need would be better served by a different clinical solution. Achieving an 80% downgrade rate. The Negotiated Procedure without Prior Publication is being followed and is justified under Regulation 32 (2) (b) (ii).

### Lot Information

Lot 1

As part of the South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS) remit to operate the 999 call service, it was identified that ambulances were being sent to patients that didn't need them, which otherwise could have been downgraded over the phone, reducing the need to dispatch an ambulance unnecessarily, and reducing the pressure and demand on the use of ambulances. An opportunity was identified whereby if there were suitably qualified clinical personnel to direct these calls to, this would save ambulance resource and as a result make a monetary saving for the Trust. This would result in calls coming in to the call centres being downgraded to Category 3s or 4s, and avoiding the need to dispatch an emergency ambulance to these patients. An initial one year pilot contract between SCAS & local commissioners was set up based on testing the viability and success of the required outcome. A pilot subcontract was set up between SCAS and their subcontractor provide a GP Clinical Assessment Service to support this opportunity. The existing contract is due to expire on 26th April 2023. The pilot has shown a huge benefit to SCAS - downgrade rates of 80%. As a result of the success with the pilot contract, an additional 18 month contract is required to fill the gap between current contract end date, and the current commissioned services expiry dates. If the contract expires with no replacement, SCAS and the public would experience a huge drop in service level, and an unnecessary dispatching of ambulances, putting further pressure on ambulance resources. The existing pilot contract provision is due to expire on 26th April 2023. Due to the short timescales involved, and the need for the service to be successfully operating immediately, SCAS conducted a tender process with a closed group of 5 existing subcontractor healthcare providers, that already provide these or very similar services to SCAS.

### Procurement Information

The Negotiated Procedure without Prior Publication is being followed and is justified under Regulation 32 (2) (b) (ii) - Technical Reasons. 1. Technical reasons: The GP-led option consistently overachieves on the model of 80% downgrades of Cat 3 & 4 and 3 calls per hour. This needs to be maintained within the timescales available. 2. Economic reasons: The GP-led option is the most cost-effective and offers the best quality 3. Legal reasons: Potential TUPE risks exist and are currently being assessed Non-discriminatory decision: Five suppliers were invited to tender, and the evaluation process was transparent and fair.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/009338-2023 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Negotiated without publication of a contract notice |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 30 Mar 2023 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 29 Mar 2023 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £3,651,515 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Not specified |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | SOUTH CENTRAL AMBULANCE SERVICE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST |
| Locality | BICESTER |
| Post town | Oxford |
| Postcode | OX26 6HR |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLJ South East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLJ1 Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire |
| ITL 3 | TLJ14 Oxfordshire CC |
| Local authority | Cherwell |
| Electoral ward | Bicester South and Ambrosden |
| Westminster constituency | Bicester and Woodstock |
| Delivery location | TLJ South East (England) |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | EAST BERKSHIRE PRIMARY CARE OUT OF HOURS |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 85 - Health and social work services

### Codes

- 85121100 - General-practitioner services
- 85141000 - Services provided by medical personnel

## Release History

- 30 Mar 2023 at 14:44 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/009338-2023

## Notice URLs

- http://www.scas.nhs.uk

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-03b770. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03b770.json.