Specialist Mental Health Outreach Service for Rough Sleepers

Description

This notice is for the direct award of a 12-month contract to South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) to deliver the Lewisham START Team, a specialist mental health outreach service for rough sleepers. The service will be funded through the in-year Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant (RSPARG) increased allocation, alongside contributions from South East London (SEL) RSPARG and existing funding for the Dual Diagnosis Homeless Outreach Practitioner. The service will provide trauma-informed, multidisciplinary care aligned with NICE guidance and national homelessness priorities. The START Team will address a critical gap in provision identified through borough-wide service mapping. Under the Provider Selection Regime, officers utilised the Direct Award Process A to identify the provider. The annual contract value will be £269,932 for the duration of the 12 month contract. This notice is placed to set out Lewisham Council's award of contract under the Direct Award Process A of the Provider Selection Regime. Lot 1: Lewisham is one of the few South East London boroughs without a dedicated mental health multidisciplinary outreach service for rough sleepers. Neighbouring boroughs such as Lambeth and Greenwich benefit from established START and RAMP teams respectively, offering integrated care across health and housing systems. The START Team for Lewisham, to be delivered by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM), directly responds to this gap. It will expand the DD HOP model into a full multidisciplinary team, incorporating consultant psychiatry, care coordinators, and support workers. The service will be embedded within the existing START framework operating in Lambeth, Southwark, and Croydon, and will deliver trauma-informed, NICE-compliant care to rough sleepers across Lewisham. The key criteria that was used for selection was: 1. Quality and innovation; 2. Value; 3. Integration, collaboration, and service sustainability; 4. Improving access, reducing health inequalities, and facilitating choice; 5. Social Value This is an award notice under the Direct Award Process A of the Provider Selection Regime.