NHS Vale Royal Clinical Commissioning Group (VRCCG) required support to block book eight discharge-to-assess beds (four for the elderly mentally infirm (EMI) and four general nursing).
Action
Two requirements were published (one for each block of four beds).
MLCSU drafted a communication to providers for approval by VRCCG.
adam set up new service categories for discharge-to-assess within the system.
VRCCG held a provider event involving MLCSU and adam. This included a short presentation and a question and answer session.
Impact
The exercise was agreed as a success by all parties, especially when considering the quick turn-around of the required actions (within 17 working days of initial conference call between VRCCG, MLCSU and Adam).
The general nursing beds received eight offers and the EMI beds three. The EMI results, however, were more expensive than expected, so this requirement was rolled back out to the market for a further week to allow for more offers. This produced a new offer at a lower cost than expected from a provider just one mile from Leighton Hospital and this was subsequently selected.