Sector: Community health, Sexual health
Client: The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust
Services provided: Bid preparation, bid writing.
Benefits delivered
HealthcareBids helped the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust – the incumbent provider of Dudley Council’s sexual health service and HIV care and treatment service – to create the winning bid for the Council’s new procurement, which placed a greater emphasis on community provision. HealthcareBids helped with modelling and documenting the revised service delivery model and drafted all tender responses.
Project summary
Dudley Council undertook a procurement for;
- A community-focused level 1, 2 and 3 sexual health service, which integrated contraception and sexual and reproductive health services.
- An HIV care and treatment service.
The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust (DGFT) was the existing provider of the two services and delivered these in both acute and community settings. For the new procurement, the commissioner was keen to increase the emphasis on community provision. DGFT asked HealthcareBids to help with modelling and documenting the revised service delivery model and to draft all tender responses.
From creating the vision through to writing the bid
HealthcareBids met initially with the lead consultant for the service, Dr El-Dalil, to agree a project scope and methodology. This included identifying key contributors and ‘subject matter experts’. We met with several nursing staff from within the service to understand operational details. This included existing integration with wider community and third sector providers and opportunities for service development. We also worked with head office staff to understand corporate activity on apprenticeships, recruitment and retention, and specialist areas such as safeguarding and clinical governance.
In parallel, we held meetings with the lead consultant to explore and document the key strengths and successes of the existing sexual health service and HIV service. Jointly, we defined, refined and documented the vision for the new, community-focused service. Key here was to ensure alignment with the commissioner’s requirements as laid out in the specification.
We drafted all responses and, following feedback, delivered second and final drafts.
The bid was submitted on time and we were delighted when DGFT was announced as the preferred bidder.
Dr El-Dalil, Medical Service Head, said of the tender process:
“This was a really important bid for the Trust, but it was a daunting prospect to develop a new service model and respond to all the tender questions, as well as manage our normal workload. HealthcareBids helped us understand what we needed to do, challenged our thinking around the new service model and wrote all our bid responses.”