---
title: "Virtual Ward GP Support Service"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-049d84"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-049d84"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-049d84.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-049d84.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "EAST SUSSEX HEALTHCARE NHS TRUST"
published: "2024-09-25"
---

# Virtual Ward GP Support Service

Buyer: EAST SUSSEX HEALTHCARE NHS TRUST  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-049d84

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## Summary

The procurement process, managed by East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, involves the award of a contract for a "Virtual Ward GP Support Service" in East Sussex. The service, which commenced on 1st October 2024 and will run until 30th September 2027, falls under the General-practitioner services category (CPV code 85121100). The tendering process has been completed, and the contract has been awarded to South Downs Health and Care Ltd following a limited procedure without prior publication of a call for competition. This approach was justified under the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. The procurement focused on several key criteria, including social value, quality, innovation, value, integration, collaboration, and price, each weighted equally.

This tender offers significant business growth opportunities, particularly for businesses involved in healthcare services and those with expertise in virtual ward management. The contract necessitates the provision of experienced GPs familiar with acute illness and frailty management, capable of occasional face-to-face reviews and collaborative working with consultants and other primary care professionals within East Sussex. Companies with a strong background in healthcare provision, particularly small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) like South Downs Health and Care Ltd, which have previously demonstrated outstanding service quality and innovation, would be well-suited to compete in similar future tenders. The contract’s demand for local expertise and the ability to work within established health systems and processes also underscores the value of localised, integrated healthcare solutions.

## Notice

A seven day per week service supporting the Trust Virtual Ward consisting of:
* Daily attendance and patient review at a VW virtual 'board round' to discuss patients - as appropriate
* Medical decision making & prescribing as required for VW patients
* Escalation to ESHT Consultants from relevant specialties to support the VW team
* Medical advice - available during working hours - for the Virtual Ward team
* Occasional home visiting (rarely required) if it is clearly beneficial and will 
* Support the Virtual Ward team in communication and working with carers and relatives
* Support the Trust in the development of Virtual Ward pathways, VW awareness, and efficacy of access/referral/discharge processes
The GPs supporting the service are required to be able to offer face to face reviews occasionally and attend in person some development or service meetings, in a timely fashion and at short notiice - i.e. need to be working within East Sussex, able and willing to travel.
The GPs also need to be experienced in general, skilled in supporting acute illness and in particular for patients with Frailty. 
The GP service must include GPs experienced in supporting virtual wards (to help with their own supervision and development).
The GPs supporting also need to be familiar with local systems and processes (e.g. HSCC, JCR, UCR, PSL etc arrangements). GPs in the service need to be able to maintain good relations with ESHT Consultants (where relevant) and other primary care colleagues in East Sussex.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

A seven day per week service supporting the Trust Virtual Ward consisting of:
* Daily attendance and patient review at a VW virtual 'board round' to discuss patients - as appropriate
* Medical decision making & prescribing as required for VW patients
* Escalation to ESHT Consultants from relevant specialties to support the VW team
* Medical advice - available during working hours - for the Virtual Ward team
* Occasional home visiting (rarely required) if it is clearly beneficial and will 
* Support the Virtual Ward team in communication and working with carers and relatives
* Support the Trust in the development of Virtual Ward pathways, VW awareness, and efficacy of access/referral/discharge processes
The GPs supporting the service are required to be able to offer face to face reviews occasionally and attend in person some development or service meetings, in a timely fashion and at short notiice - i.e. need to be working within East Sussex, able and willing to travel.
The GPs also need to be experienced in general, skilled in supporting acute illness and in particular for patients with Frailty. 
The GP service must include GPs experienced in supporting virtual wards (to help with their own supervision and development).
The GPs supporting also need to be familiar with local systems and processes (e.g. HSCC, JCR, UCR, PSL etc arrangements). GPs in the service need to be able to maintain good relations with ESHT Consultants (where relevant) and other primary care colleagues in East Sussex.

### Procurement Information

This is a Provider Selection Regime (PSR) award notice. The awarding of this contract is subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. 
Decision makers: Simon Dowse - Director of Transformation, Strategy & Improvement. Abigail Turner - DDO, CHIC Division.

The basic selection criteria and the key criteria were assessed by reflecting on the evidence provided by SDHC Ltd. SDHC Ltd have successfully delivered a pilot over 12 months, where the provider met all the specified criteria. The quality of the provision to date exceeds expectations and is critical to service quality overall. The service provider has directly supported innovation of the service, pathways, promotion or the service within ESHT and wider GP community. They are also working with us on innovating training for VW medical support.

The VW service and GP service provider have a well embedded and positive working relationship. The arrangement offers an exemplar for integrated acute, community and primary care working and collaboration - to deliver a service that offers better outcomes for patients and use of health and care resources

The GP service continues to offer significant value vs recruiting our own GPs, using our own consultant resource or using 'agency'.

The service recruits manage and provides GPs through the Federation. Lessons and challenges from the ESHT approach to recruiting in-house GPs for our UTC model indicate that this approach, working with the Federation, is more sustainable, more resilient and more cost-effective. (We are exploring options to use this model for other services)

The GP service provided is critical to delivery of the VW - which represents an increase in patient choice.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/030558-2024 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 25 Sep 2024 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 1 Sep 2024 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

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

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | EAST SUSSEX HEALTHCARE NHS TRUST |
| Locality | ST LEONARDS ON SEA |
| Post town | Tonbridge |
| Postcode | TN37 7PT |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLJ South East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLJ2 Surrey, East and West Sussex |
| ITL 3 | TLJ22 East Sussex CC |
| Local authority | Hastings |
| Electoral ward | Conquest |
| Westminster constituency | Hastings and Rye |
| Delivery location | TLJ2 Surrey, East and West Sussex |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | SOUTH DOWNS HEALTH AND CARE |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 85 - Health and social work services

### Codes

- 85121100 - General-practitioner services

## Release History

- 25 Sep 2024 at 09:01 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/030558-2024

## Notice URLs

- https://www.esht.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-049d84. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-049d84.json.