Sector: Community health
Client: Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust
Services provided: Bid preparation, bid writing support.
Benefits delivered
HealthcareBids helped Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust (CLCH) win the contract to provide adult community health services for the London Borough of Wandsworth. We worked with the CLCH team to fully understand the aims of the contract, the service specification and needs of the local population, and then developed a robust strategy for the bid. Healthcare bids then wrote the responses to all the questions. CLCH was announced as the preferred bidder.
Project summary
CLCH wished to tender for a contract to provide adult community health services for the London Borough of Wandsworth. They engaged HealthcareBids to help with bid preparation and bid writing.
Phase 1 – Bid preparation
HealthcareBids worked with the Head of Business Development, the Director of Operations and the clinical teams, holding one-to-one meetings and group workshops to:
- Explore and understand the service specification and commissioners’ aims, the needs of the local population and views on how best to deliver the services.
- Understand the Trust’s relevant experience and key strengths.
- Articulate the overarching service model as well as the individual service proposition for specific service lines, including staffing structure, work locations and innovative delivery methods.
- Explore and articulate new governance structures.
- Examine the IT and estates requirements.
- Identify potential partnership needs.
Phase 2 – Bid writing
HealthcareBids was responsible for writing the responses to all questions, covering topics such as: service model design, governance, technology and mobilisation. We analysed each question to identify the response structure and information needed to:
- Answer the question in full, referencing relevant experience and emphasising ‘win themes’.
- Meet the specification.
- ‘Sell’ the proposition.
We discussed specific points, such as the detailed staffing model and integrated mobile working methods with the appropriate Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). Following a review of the first draft by the wider team, we addressed comments and suggestions and produced final drafts for the Trust to review and approve. Drafting the tender responses posed a particular challenge because significant content was required for each response yet only very low word limits were permitted.
We were delighted when CLCH were announced as the preferred bidder.
Tom Wright, Commercial Director of CLCH said:
“This was a very significant tender for the Trust. HealthcareBids worked seamlessly with our business development and operations teams. They really got to grips with our approach and, despite very challenging wordcount limits, were very skilful at conveying everything we wanted to say and we achieved extremely high scores for our bid submission.”