Issue - meetings

Report of the Chief Partnership Officer

The Cabinet considered a report of the Chief Partnership Officer which indicated that the Health and Social Care Act 2012 places a duty on local authorities to provide open access services for contraception and for prevention, testing and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) for their residents. This is mandatory and entails the key principles of providing services that are free, confidential, open access and not restricted by age. The term ‘open access’ refers to services being available to anyone requiring testing for sexually transmitted infections and subsequent treatment (not including HIV treatment), irrespective of their personal characteristics, place of residence, GP registration or immigration status, and without referral.

The Integrated Sexual Health (ISH) Service in Coventry is currently delivered by Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Partnership Trust (CWPT) and is based on a hub and spoke model, with the hub in the City of Coventry Health Centre. The service provides clinic-based interventions and sub-contracts GPs and pharmacies to provide contraceptive (emergency contraception, long-acting reversible contraception and condom distribution) and sexual health services (chlamydia screening) within community settings. The cost of all testing and drug treatments is included within the contract. Currently, online and pharmacy HIV testing services are commissioned outside of the main contract for ISH.

The current contract commenced in 2015 and integrated a number of separate contraception and STI services. The service was jointly procured between Coventry City Council and NHS England (NHSE), who are responsible for commissioning HIV treatment, to enable a more effective patient pathway from HIV testing into treatment. The current contract was due to expire on 31 March 2023 but has been extended to 31 March 2024 in order to allow for the procurement proposed in the report to take place.

Similar services are currently commissioned jointly by Warwickshire County Council (WCC) and NHSE, with the contract delivered by George Eliot NHS Trust and some direct locally enhanced services in primary care.

It is proposed that the service is re-procured by the City Council jointly with Warwickshire County Council and NHSE to deliver both ISH and HIV treatment services within an integrated model, providing efficiency and a smooth patient journey from HIV testing to treatment. The recommended approach is that, following appointment of a provider via a joint procurement process, the Councils will hold a single contract for sexual health service provision and NHSE will hold a second, separate, contract for HIV treatment to ensure contract management remains within specialist teams. Warwickshire County Council will operate as contract holder for sexual health service provision and Coventry City Council will have third party rights. A supporting contract will be drawn up between Coventry City Council and Warwickshire County Council to clarify roles, risk sharing and liabilities and a joint overseeing board will be established involving Directors of Public Health from each local authority.

The report included details of the proposed procurement process to respond to needs assessment and a description of key service priorities, including a focus on community outreach and engagement to support  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19