NHS England has published a new opinion on £10 billion of open opportunities ahead of plans in September to reach a framework agreement between service providers that can help trusts and NHS services reduce wait times affected by the coronavirus. The NHS today announced a £160 million initiative to tackle waiting lists and develop an elective recovery plan, as early reports show healthcare is recovering faster after the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The contract notice states that it will aim to « find providers capable of supporting the reduction of waiting lists, which are expected to increase due to Covid-19, in order to disrupt and reduce the available capacity of the NHS ». The notice, first reported by the Health Service Journal, also suggests that some emergency and emergency patients could be transferred from hospitals to the private sector. The agreement is used by all NHS trusts. Healthcare has not reached its target since February 2016, but wait times have been significantly worsened by the impact of the coronavirus, which has led to the cancellation and delay of many routine surgeries. NHS England said the number revealed in a tender announcement published online on Monday is a higher estimate of what it could spend to reduce wait times. The Outsourced Clinical Services Framework provides approved organizations with a compliant path to the market to obtain high-quality outsourced clinical services at a good value for money. The framework agreement allows approved organizations to maintain internal capacity planning and ensure that patients can be seen in an appropriate and compliant manner to reduce waiting lists.
Accredited bodies will be able to provide additional clinical capacity by allowing patients to be seen and treated in alternative providers` own facilities. The framework has been tendered under the « Light Touch regime », which means that there will be an extension option to reopen the award and include other suppliers in the framework agreement. Once established, the outsourced framework is expected to run from November 2020 to December 2022, according to the contract notice. It was deemed unsuitable for SMEs and VCSE companies. Neil Tester, Director of the Richmond Group of National Health and Care Organisations, said: « Today`s announcement recognises the real need for creativity and innovation to address the electoral backlog. Our affiliates support a large number of people living with pain, loss of mobility and emotional stress while waiting for major surgeries, so we know how important it will be to control this problem. NHS staff have worked hard to make the current improvements and now is a good time to test these new approaches to provide the right help to more people. As the NHS learns from these trials at accelerator sites, local NHS leaders need to ensure that patients awaiting surgery are kept informed and receive the appropriate support, including help that the voluntary sector can provide. NHS England has extended its contract with private sector hospitals until March 2021, but in Monday`s contract notice, NHS England said it would launch an offer to find providers to join an agreed « framework » for hospitals to be used over the next four years to reduce the size of its waiting list. Virtual services and home examinations, 3D eye scanners, home antibiotic kits, « pre-hab » for patients undergoing surgery, AI in GP offices and « Super Saturday » clinics – where multidisciplinary teams meet over the weekend to offer more specialist appointments – are also being tested. In mid-September, it emerged that some NHS patients had waited 37 weeks for their procedure, tests and diagnoses, with more than 50,000 patients waiting at least a year without treatment.
Not only are there the main problems of reduced quality of life, pain and uncertainty about the future of patients, but this waiting time also leads to side effects such as a sedentary lifestyle, mental health problems and decreased productivity, which can further worsen the initial state. For those who cannot afford private healthcare, the forced waiting periods currently imposed by NHS services will increase reliance on other services such as physiotherapists and mental health services. By the end of the year, 1 in 6 people in the UK is expected to be on an NHS waiting list for some form of healthcare. An interesting aspect of this tender is that NHS emergency and emergency patients could also be selected by intensive care and A&E services in order to reduce demand for services that are overtaken by high usage (and complications from COVID and non-COVID services). « The duration of the contract should be two years, with the possibility of extending it for another two years, » the statement said. « The estimated value is based on a potential higher value over a four-year period, the actual value depends on the actual demand. » The framework agreement is available to all GCC and NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts across England. Rachel Power, Executive Director of the Patients` Association, said: « The extension of wait times due to COVID-19 has been well publicised and patients are worried about what it will mean for them. This concern comes on top of the effects of having to live longer with the pain or discomfort of their condition, and for many is compounded by the fact that several appointments have been postponed or cancelled. Measures to speed up the recovery of elective treatment are therefore welcome – the importance of prompt treatment to achieve the best possible results is generally recognised. Effective communication with patients at this critical time is also crucial, and we are delighted to be working with NHS England to develop principles for effective communication with patients about their elective treatment. The total waiting list is expected to reach 10 million people later this year.
When does it start? The agreement comes into force on 1 May 2020 and expires on 30 April 2024 (including extensions) NHS England is now looking to speed up recovery by testing new ways of working in a dozen areas and five specialist paediatric hospitals. Healthcare could spend up to £10 billion in taxpayers` money over the next four years to buy operations and treatments in the private sector to reduce wait times. .