---
title: "Crisis Houses & Safe Havens - Kent & Medway"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-04024b"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-04024b"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04024b.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04024b.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "NHS KENT AND MEDWAY INTEGRATED CARE BOARD"
published: "2024-10-01"
---

# Crisis Houses & Safe Havens - Kent & Medway

Buyer: NHS KENT AND MEDWAY INTEGRATED CARE BOARD  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-04024b

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## Summary

The NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board has awarded a public procurement contract for the provision of Crisis Houses and Safe Havens services in Kent and Medway. The contract, awarded on 2nd September 2024, involves a total estimated value of £18,330,557 and marks the completion of the procurement process. This health services contract falls under the industry category CPV 85100000 and was procured using the open procedure method. The Safe Havens, managed by Mental Health Matters, include nine locations with two providing 24/7 support, targeting individuals in acute psychological distress. The contract, which aimed to reduce the burden on hospital services, ran a tender process with significant quality and price criteria, receiving participation from three bidders.

This procurement offers substantial business growth opportunities for providers experienced in mental health services, especially those with a focus on urgent care and social value. Businesses specialising in safe and crisis intervention environments, psychiatric support, and integrated care setup will find this tender particularly aligned with their expertise. The emphasis on community-based care and partnerships with local statutory services makes it ideal for organisations equipped with a robust support network and operational scalability to handle high-demand mental health crises efficiently. The continuation and potential extension of such contracts signify a sustained demand for these services, presenting long-term collaboration opportunities for capable providers.

## Notice

Provision of Crisis Houses (Lot 1) & Safe Havens (Lot 2) service in Kent & Medway

### Lot Information

Lot 1 - Crisis Houses

This service is for the provision of a Crisis Houses service.
The objectives of this project are to commission two Adult Mental Health Crisis Houses in
Kent and Medway. These crisis houses will be for when someone is experiencing a period of
acute psychological distress, associated with a mental health problem (which may or may
not have been given a formal diagnosis). The crisis may be a sudden deterioration of an
existing mental health difficulty or they may be experiencing mental health difficulties for the
first time. They need immediate treatment and/or care and/or support in order to prevent
further deterioration in their mental or physical wellbeing and to help avoid hospital
admission.
The rationale for the development of this service centres around how it can:
1) Provide positive outcomes for people in Psychological or Mental Health Crisis who require
urgent and intensive support.
2) Provide an alternative to an Acute Psychiatric Inpatient Admission
3) Reduce impact on the wider Mental Health Urgent and Emergency Care services (Liaison
Psychiatry, Rapid Response, Home Treatment, Section 136 Health Based Place of Safety.
Inpatient Services)
Delivered by the VCSE a Crisis House is a service that offers short-term residential mental
health crisis interventions and support for a duration of up to 7 days, for individuals who are
experiencing mental health crisis. Analysis of local NHS Mental Health inpatient admissions
evidences a cohort of inpatients whose needs could be met in a Crisis House as an
alternative to inpatient admission which will offer significant benefits to service users. Crisis Houses can prevent possible hospital admission and ensure only those who are acutely
unwell or at very high risk of suicide are admitted to hospital. Crisis Houses are embedded
within a number of ICSs, with a number of positive outcomes including high service user
satisfaction and decreased reliance upon acute inpatient admission. Underpinning the
philosophy of Crisis House provision is social inclusion and linking with the wider VCSE
service provision.

Lot 2 - Safe Havens

The service is for the provision of Safe Havens across Kent & Medway
The objective of this project is to commission 9 Safe Havens across K&M, 2 of which will be open 24/7 and co-located within a General Acute Hospital site. Individuals can stay up to 24hrs in the 2 co-located Safe Havens. This will enable 24/7 provision across the County.
Psychiatric Liaison Mental Health Triage Nurses can redirect individuals attending Emergency Departments (ED) with primary mental health problems who do not require a physical health intervention. The 7 community based safe havens will be open 7 days a week from 18.00 - 23.00 providing out of hours support for people in a self-defined crisis who are likely to have called 999 or 111 and been conveyed or directed to or self-presented at A&E for mental health assessment.
The service specification has developed as part of the Kent and Medway Provider Collaborative partnership with agencies and services across the Kent and Medway System, including: -
* VCSE Organisations
* Acute Hospital Trusts, EKHUFT, MTW, DVH and MFT
* Mental Health Provider Trust
* Kent Police
* South East Coast Ambulance Services
* Placed Based Health Care Partnerships
The rationale for the development of this service centres around how it can:
1) Provide positive outcomes for people in Psychological or Mental Health distress who require urgent emotional support.
2) Provide an alternative to attending A&E
3) Reduce impact on the wider Mental Health Urgent and Emergency Care services (Liaison
Psychiatry, Rapid Response, Home Treatment, Section 136 Health Based Place of Safety.
Inpatient Services)
4) Reduce impact on 'Blue Light' services, specifically calls to 111 and 999 and ambulance
conveyance
The service is in line with NHS England's Long-Term Plan and will involve the development of partnership agreements, Escalation Policies and procedures, service standards, Standard
Operating Procedures and pathways to ensure that people experiencing urgent mental health needs in K&M can access a range of crisis alternatives and a safe place to receive a
supportive offer in the community.
This service has been designed taking into account learning from Safe Haven Providers and
Service Users across the Country, along with engagement of people with lived experience and professionals who have fed in their views to help shape this draft specification and
emerging model.
The service will be resourced by a suitable experienced Provider who has demonstrated that they can meet the contract requirements and deliver good outcomes for local people. The
service will be supported with clinical in reach from statutory services - this model will be coproduced
by local partners to agree on what this looks like and reviewed on an on-going
basis

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/031318-2024 |
| Notice type | Tender Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Open procedure |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 1 Oct 2024 |
| Submission deadline | 20 Oct 2023 |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 1 Sep 2024 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £22,649,355 |
| Lots value | £22,649,355 |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £18,330,557 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Cancelled |
| Awards status | Active, Unsuccessful |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | NHS KENT AND MEDWAY INTEGRATED CARE BOARD |
| Locality | MAIDSTONE |
| Post town | Rochester |
| Postcode | ME15 6NB |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLJ South East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLJ4 Kent |
| ITL 3 | TLJ45 Mid Kent |
| Local authority | Maidstone |
| Electoral ward | High Street |
| Westminster constituency | Maidstone and Malling |
| Delivery location | TLJ4 Kent |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 85 - Health and social work services

### Codes

- 85100000 - Health services

## Release History

- 1 Oct 2024 at 10:48 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/031318-2024
- 20 Sep 2023 at 11:11 - Tender - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/027767-2023

## Notice URLs

- https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome
- https://www.judiciary.uk/courts-and-tribunals/high-court/
- https://www.kentandmedway.icb.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-04024b. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04024b.json.