Issue - meetings

 Report by Carolyn Godfrey, Corporate Director

 Councillor Jerry Wickham presented the report which sought authorisation toproceedwiththe inclusion ofWiltshire Council’s Urgent Care services within aWiltshire ClinicalCommissioning Group(CCG) led procurementfor Integrated Urgent CareServices.

Issues discussed during the course of the presentation and discussion included: the desire to include Wiltshire within a procurement project that involves Wiltshire, BANES and Swindon areas; that the contract should be valued at between £13 and £16m a year over 5 years; that the project would be subject to official European procurement procedures; that Wiltshire’s  proportion of the project should be around £2m; how Wiltshire’s interests are protected through the process; and the timetable for the process;

Councillor Gordon King, expressed concern over the issues of maintaining Wiltshire’s interest, and whether the proposed integration would lead to a meaningful change resulting in more effective service for Wiltshire’s residents. In response, Councillor Wickham stated that he was assured, so far, that the contract was right for Wiltshire Council and its residents, and that a further report would be discussed in January 2017.

In response to questions raised by Councillor Glennis Ansell, Councillor Wickham stated that he was also keen that the project did not expose the Council to any unnecessary additional financial risk, nor that the partnership would result in a slip in performance. In addition he expected that the project would result in a reduction in management costs overall.

Resolved

a)    To approve the participation ofWiltshire Council in ajoint commissioning exercise withWiltshire CCG, in partnership with B&NES CCG and Swindon CCG, of urgent care services.

b)    To approve theinclusionofa range of services currentlycommissioned byWiltshire Council (as set out in paragraph7 below) in that jointcommissioning arrangement.

c)    To note that a Memorandum of Understandingis being preparedwhichestablishes the governanceofthe commissioning decisions in relation tothe tender exercise.

d)    To note that anupdate onthe jointprocurementwill be brought backto Cabinetin January2017,providingan opportunityto agree the timetablefor the decision to award thetender.

e)    To approve the exemption to theextension of the existing Council contractwith Medvivo for Urgent Care at Homefor 2017-18, on the basis that itcan thenbe included in the joint commissioning exercise.

There is scopeto improve thedeliveryof urgent care services, reduce duplication and identify efficiencies bycommissioning services jointly.