SNEE Covid-19 Oral Antiviral Treatment Service

Tender description

The aim of this service is to provide the clinical infrastructure to support the safe, timely and appropriate dispensing of antiviral medication for the treatment of Covid-19 for non-hospitalised patients across Suffolk and North East Essex. The service is designed to ensure choice and prompt access to these medicines in the community setting for eligible patients when they are required at all times whilst the pharmacies are open. Each provider will stock a minimum of THREE packs of each antiviral medication (or higher based on local demand) and will make a commitment to ensure eligible patients have prompt access to these medicines to facilitate treatment within 5 days of the onset of symptoms. Patients will receive a full clinical review by a SNEE Covid Management Delivery Unit (CMDU) prescriber and if eligible for treatment, an EPS prescription will be sent to the commissioned community pharmacy, in line with the consent and choice of the patient. Pharmacists will contact the patient as soon as possible upon receipt of the prescription to confirm consent and clinical suitability for treatment. This discussion is recorded on an electronic platform confirming all checks have been performed to confirm appropriateness of treatment. As appropriate, the pharmacy will make arrangement with the patient/carer for the medication to be collected or delivered. Lot 1: The aim of this service is to provide the clinical infrastructure to support the safe, timely and appropriate dispensing of antiviral medication for the treatment of Covid-19 for non-hospitalised patients across Suffolk and North East Essex. The service is designed to ensure choice and prompt access to these medicines in the community setting for eligible patients when they are required at all times whilst the pharmacies are open. Each provider will stock a minimum of THREE packs of each antiviral medication (or higher based on local demand) and will make a commitment to ensure eligible patients have prompt access to these medicines to facilitate treatment within 5 days of the onset of symptoms. Commissioned pharmacies will be required to report stockholding to the ICB on a monthly basis for ongoing assurance. Patients will receive a full clinical review by a SNEE Covid Management Delivery Unit (CMDU) prescriber and if eligible for treatment, an EPS prescription will be sent to the commissioned community pharmacy, in line with the consent and choice of the patient. Pharmacists will contact the patient as soon as possible upon receipt of the prescription to confirm consent and clinical suitability for treatment. This discussion is recorded on an electronic platform confirming all relevant clinical and pharmaceutical compatibility checks have been performed to confirm appropriateness of treatment. If necessary, the community pharmacist will contact the prescriber to clarify clinical concerns and/or in the event of stock availability issues. Otherwise, as appropriate, the pharmacy will make arrangement with the patient/carer for the medication to be collected or delivered. Deliveries of medication are expected to be in exceptional circumstances but can be arranged and remunerated under this service. The current contract period was 27-06-2023 to 26-06-2024 with no option to extend. This is an extension for 9 months of that original contract. NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board are awarding the contract named within this notice under the Direct Award C process which is outlined within the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. The provider named in this notice is an existing provider and has been reviewed through a Key Criteria assessment to ensure the awarding body is satisfied with current performance and reasonably expects the provider to be able to satisfy the contract which is the subject of this notice. The contract which is the subject of this notice has not changed considerably when compared with the existing / previous contract delivered by the named provider. The ICB may wish to introduce additional services during the lifetime of the contract ("Contract modifications"). Such contract modifications will be contemplated where additional requirements are similar and or complementary to the services already included in the Specification, at any given time. Such expansion would be by the addition of services commissioned by the Authority as named in the Contract Notice. To this end, after the award of contract, there is a possibility that the contract may be varied as allowable in accordance with the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. Additional information: The existing provider is satisfying the original contract and will likely satisfy the proposed contract to a sufficient standard.