Community‑Based Weight Management Service

Description

This is a notice to inform the market of the intention to award a contract for a Community‑Based Weight Management Service via the Most Suitable Provider Process Lot 1: The Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023, Paragraph 10 - The Most Suitable Provider Process is being used to commission this service. This notice will be live for fourteen (14) days from the date of publication. This is a notice to inform the market of the intention to award a contract for a Community‑Based Weight Management Service via the Most Suitable Provider process. 1. Purpose This following sets out the mandatory requirements, assessment criteria, and evidence expectations that will be applied under the Provider Selection Regime (PSR) Most Suitable Provider (MSP) process for the Community‑Based Weight Management Service. The criteria reflect: the OPIP‑approved delivery model, the Integrated Care Board's statutory duties relating to prevention, health inequalities and continuity, and the need for safe and timely mobilisation by September 2026. The service is designed as a single, integrated, population‑level pathway, rather than a referral‑only or stand‑alone digital offer. Given the fixed OPIP delivery model, the requirement for continuity of care, the dependency on Primary Care‑led population health infrastructure, and the mobilisation timeline associated with OPIP funding, the ICB has determined that a Most Suitable Provider (MSP) process represents the most proportionate and appropriate provider selection approach. 2. Mandatory Requirements (All mandatory requirements must be met in full.) 2.1 Primary Care / Neighbourhood Delivery Capability The provider must demonstrate the ability to deliver services through Primary Care-led neighbourhood structures, including: operational delivery through Primary Care Networks (PCNs) or equivalent neighbourhood arrangements; integration with General Practice and community MDTs; local, place‑based access rather than out‑of‑area or remote‑only provision. 2.2 Delivery of Obesity Prevention Innovation Programme (OPIP‑Approved Model) The provider must demonstrate the ability to deliver the OPIP‑approved model exactly as submitted, including pathway design, delivery approach and provider continuity. The delivery model is fixed for the 30‑month OPIP programme period. The provider must accept that material amendment to the model is not permitted. 2.3 Population‑Level Identification, Screening and Pathway Routing The provider must be able to deliver a population‑level, prevention‑led pathway that identifies and manages all adults with overweight and obesity, rather than operating referral‑only services. The service will operate as a single front door for overweight and obese adults within Primary Care, with pharmacotherapy eligibility and community‑based support determined through one integrated pathway. This includes: proactive identification of adults with overweight and obesity through Primary Care records and neighbourhood teams; clinical screening of identified individuals against relevant NICE guidance, including TA1026 eligibility criteria, undertaken within Primary Care governance; operation of a single integrated routing model, such that: individuals who meet TA1026 criteria and consent are signposted to, or commence, the TA1026 pharmacotherapy pathway; and individuals who do not meet TA1026 criteria are offered timely access to the community‑based weight management service. The provider must demonstrate the ability to operate this model at scale, ensuring no cohort is excluded on the basis of pharmacotherapy eligibility. 2.4 Clinical Pharmacotherapy Governance (Including TA1026) The provider must demonstrate the ability to deliver clinically governed pharmacotherapy within Primary Care, in line with NICE guidance (including TA1026). This includes: prescribing and monitoring operating outside a Specialist Weight Management Service (SWMS) as the primary clinical setting; Primary Care clinical governance, including MDT oversight, escalation and medicines optimisation alignment; integration of pharmacotherapy delivery alongside behavioural, nutritional and psychological support. Remotely delivered or digitally‑only prescribing models operating independently of Primary Care governance will not meet this requirement. 2.5 Population Health Management (PHM), JID and Data Infrastructure (Non‑negotiable) To support population‑level screening and pathway routing, the provider must demonstrate: capability to operate population health management activity within Primary Care governance, including proactive identification, stratification, recall and monitoring; the ability to lawfully access, process and use ICB‑approved population‑level data (including the Joint Intelligence Dataset or equivalent datasets), where relevant to delivery of the service, subject to appropriate information governance approvals; the ability to put in place any required data sharing, processing or access arrangements at mobilisation, in line with UK GDPR, DSPT and ICB information governance requirements; capability to support identification and engagement of high‑risk cohorts, including: people with Severe Mental Illness (SMI), including identification through SMI Health Checks and proactive engagement to address elevated cardiometabolic risk; people with multimorbidity; residents in deprived, rural or coastal communities. Providers unable to demonstrate this capability will not be able to deliver the required model. 2.6 Hybrid Delivery Model (Digital and Face‑to‑Face) The provider must demonstrate the ability to deliver a hybrid model combining: digital triage, monitoring and behavioural support; face‑to‑face MDT input delivered locally; assisted digital support for digitally excluded populations. Digital tools are expected to enable, rather than replace, clinically governed local delivery. Delivery must not be predominantly digital or remote. 2.7 Mobilisation by September 2026 The provider must demonstrate the ability to mobilise the full service safely and operationally by September 2026, including: workforce readiness; clinical governance arrangements; digital and data flows; reporting capability to meet OPIP and Innovate UK requirements. 2.8 Financial and Governance Readiness The provider must demonstrate: organisational capacity to operate under quarterly arrears‑based reimbursement, in line with Innovate UK grant conditions; governance arrangements consistent with OPIP and ABPI requirements for co‑funded programmes. 3. Assessment Criteria (PSR MSP) Assessment will consider the following criteria, with proportionate weighting reflecting service complexity, mobilisation risk and inequalities impact. 3.1 Integration and Collaboration (Highest Weighting) Degree of operational integration with PCNs, neighbourhood MDTs, mental health services, pharmacy and system partners. Evidence of existing, or demonstrably deliverable, integration within OPIP mobilisation timelines. 3.2 Continuity and Deliverability Ability to ensure continuity of non‑surgical specialist support given UHDB's restricted provision. Credible evidence of delivery at pace within OPIP timelines. 3.3 Improving Access, Reducing Inequalities and Preventive Impact Strength of the provider's ability to deliver proactive, preventive population‑based interventions, rather than demand‑led access. Evidence of targeted engagement for SMI, deprived, rural and coastal populations. 3.4 Quality and Innovation Strength of clinical governance, MDT working and outcome monitoring. Innovative use of digital tools, PHM and neighbourhood delivery to improve outcomes. 3.5 Value Overall value for money, including: per‑patient cost, system‑wide benefits, and avoidance of higher‑cost Non‑Contract Activity (NCA). Efficient use of OPIP funding to maximise system benefit. 4. Evidence Expectations Providers will be expected to submit proportionate evidence demonstrating: alignment of delivery model with the OPIP‑approved submission; Primary Care and PCN integration arrangements; TA1026 clinical governance and medicines optimisation alignment; PHM/JID access or lawful DSA capability; hybrid delivery model and inclusion mitigations; mobilisation plan to September 2026; pathway integration, including TA1026 routing and safe, planned onward Tier 4 escalation; high‑level cost and value information; information governance compliance. Evidence must relate to live or deliverable operational arrangements within the OPIP mobilisation window. Aspirational or untested models will not be sufficient. 5. Purpose of the Criteria The purpose of this criteria is to ensure that any provider considered through the MSP process can safely, equitably and deliverably provide the OPIP‑approved community‑based weight management service, without risk to continuity, quality or funding compliance. The criteria have been designed to be provider neutral and capability based, applying equally to all potential providers operating within the market. These criteria reflect the delivery model approved through the Obesity Prevention Innovation Programme (OPIP). As a condition of funding, the service model, delivery approach and mobilisation timeline are fixed for the programme period. The criteria are intentionally aligned to the OPIP‑approved model and the Integrated Care Board's statutory duties, and are proportionate to the clinical, operational and inequalities risks associated with this service. The criteria have been designed to be provider‑neutral and capability‑based, applying equally to all potential providers operating within the market. The estimated value and length of the contract is £3.7 million for a 30 month period.