Issue - meetings

Background:

This report provided details of the proposal to extend the current contract to 31 March 2016, whilst a procurement exercise for the reprovision of home care and flexi care services with effect from 1 April 2016 was undertaken.

The report provided details of the current provision and service providers for home care services and flexi care services together with details of the procurement process to be undertaken for the new contracts.

The Procurement Board considered this report on 9 September 2015 and supported the recommendations as set out in paragraph 12 of the report.

The Portfolio Holder for Adult Services referred to paragraph 4.1.1 of the report (risk management) and provided clarification on the equalities risk category. He noted that this particular risk took into account the need to provide reassurances that packages of care were delivered in a timely manner by home care providers. Currently, there were issues of sufficiency in the home care market in certain areas due to staff shortages and staff retention although officers were putting packages of care in place.

An exempt appendix contained key information in respect of the financial analysis.

Reasons:

A four month contract extension will allow the Council to continue to allocate referrals to home care providers. However, the Authority has immediate issues to address in terms of capacity within the home care sector across Medway. Changing the way in which home care is modelled and commissioned should help address this in the long term.  A four month extension to the contracts will give the Partnership Commissioning Team sufficient time to consider external factors which impact on the Council’s budgets; complete financial modelling and tender services for the future. 

A four month extension to the contract for flexi-care provision will allow the Council sufficient time to establish a new framework with effect from 1 April 2016 and undertake a tender exercise to establish new contracts.