Connect Health, the UK’s leading independent community provider of musculoskeletal services (including orthopaedics, pain, rheumatology and physiotherapy) has been selected to provide additional capacity to the NHS through a new framework.
The Outsourced Clinical Services framework, developed by NHS Shared Business Services, provides an OJEU compliant route to market for approved organisations to procure quality, value for money clinical services. The services offered by Connect Health under the framework include orthopaedics (triage and waiting list reduction), pain management, physiotherapy, MSK and rheumatology services across the UK.
With musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) affecting 1 in 4 of the adult population, and with the added pressure being placed on frontline staff and key workers due to COVID-19, the demands are significant, with some staff working long hours under desperately difficult conditions. Connect Health remains ready and available to support the NHS locally, regionally or nationally.
Phil Davies, Director of Procurement at NHS SBS, said
NHS organisations routinely acquire extra clinical capacity to deal with spikes in demand and to keep waiting lists down for patients. The recent extreme pressure on NHS services means that additional clinical support is likely to be needed now more than ever. We have worked with a number of NHS trusts to put a framework in place that enables any NHS provider to access high-quality clinical services quickly – in a cost-effective and compliant manner.
Mike Turner, Chief Operating Officer, Connect Health added
We are delighted to have been the only specialist MSK provider chosen, and to be scored second highest in a group of over 35 successful bidders. Connect Health services cover more than 10% of England’s population, demonstrating that we can quickly leverage our platform to support NHS partners’ waiting lists. The framework offers a quick and secure route to engage with the additional expertise and capacity to support current and ongoing demand needs.
Founded over 30 years ago, Connect Health is well placed to support the NHS with patient triage and waiting lists and prides itself on transforming services around specific quality and financial objectives, whilst dramatically reducing RTT and improving access to treatment.
Connect Health has made a significant investment in its Patient Coordination Centre alongside the very latest robotics and AI, to make sure administrative interaction with patients and clinicians, including appointment bookings, reminders, care plans, diagnostics coordination and discharge, are managed effectively.
The Outsourced Clinical Services framework offers the NHS the following benefits:
- Ability to Purchase Additional Clinical Capacity– allowing patients to be seen and treated within compliant timeframes
- Waiting List Reduction – enabling waiting lists to be reduced by allowing patients to be seen and treated by an alternative provider
- Wide range of Providers, Specialties and Services
- Supplier Flexibility – allowing freedom and flexibility to choose the suppliers they wish and Direct Award within the remit of the Agreement
- OJEU Avoidance – A detailed procurement exercise has taken place, saving valuable time and money in the procurement process.
- Agile Framework – The appointed suppliers will be able to bring forward new products and services throughout the life of the agreement.
The framework allows approved organisations to retain capacity planning in-house and ensure patients can be seen within suitable and compliant timeframes and help reduce waiting lists.
Further information about the framework:
Outsourced Clinical Services
Read about Connect Health’s clinical expertise:
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