Purpose

The NHS Health Check programme is a nationally
mandated Public Health Programme in England under the
responsibility of Local Authorities. It is one of the largest
prevention programmes of its type in the world, designed to help
prevent and detect early signs of stroke, heart disease, kidney
disease, Type 2 diabetes or dementia and offer support and advice
to help reduce or manage their risk.
Although it is a national programme, Doncaster wishes to commission
a service that best meets the needs of the local population and
communities. Statistical comparison data shows the health of
Doncaster’s population is generally worse than the regional
and national averages. The Covid-19 Pandemic has further revealed
and
amplified the inequalities in health and there are clear
socio-economic and ethnic inequalities in risk mortality.
In November 2021, the Council sought to commission a new Provider
that would offer flexible and innovative ways of delivering this
Service. Although there was some initial interest, engagement from
the Market was low and did not meet the requirements specified.
This coupled with the current climate, and recommendations from the
PHE regarding the future transformation of the NHS Health Check
programme; the Council made the decision not to award the
Contract.
Following extensive research since the initial tender, with
neighbouring local authorities, and some market testing with
potential providers; it was concluded that in the absence of the
new Provider Selection Regime procurement rules, the service would
need to be re-tendered to ensure equity and opportunity for all. An
options paper was submitted to the portfolio holder in April 2022
and since then we have gathered evidence from other local
authorities in similar positions and are following a similar
process in view of the market uncertainty and in line with local
procurement guidance. The decision is therefore to go out to tender
on a reduced financial envelope and corresponding scaled down
targets of numbers of health checks to
‘pilot’ the approach and test the market. This is
comparable to our South Yorkshire neighbours based on research
across Yorkshire and Humber.
A key focus of the new Service will be to prioritise and engage
with those most at risk of developing cardio-vascular disease;
those most affected by COVID-19; and those that engage less well
with primary care, to contribute to the aim of reducing health
inequalities in Doncaster. The prime focus will be around the core
20 plus five initiative in the newly promoted service to tackle the
health inequalities and target the most at risk.
Following an unsuccessful tender in November 2022 we are now
conducting further market engagement to deliver a third market
opportunity in summer 2023 working alongside our Strategic
Procurement team.

Content

Following a key decision and an options
appraisal paper to the Portfolio holder (Councillor Nigel Ball in
April 2021 and a further options appraisal in April 2022, a
decision was made to re-commission the NHS Health checks service
following the contract ending in March 2021, the recent government
recommendations and the difficulties securing a new provider in the
previous tender (November 2021) due to uncertainties in the market
and the conditions at the time.
A subsequent procurement commenced in November 2022 and again we
were unsuccessful in securing a Provider. Following advice from the
Strategic Procurement Team we plan to conduct further soft market
engagement with a view to undertaking a third Procurement in Summer
2023.