Agenda item - Recommissioning Substance Misuse Services

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the procurement by tender for substance misuse services be approved;

(2)       That delegated authority is granted to the Executive Director of Health & Adult Social Care (HASC) to undertake the procurement and award of a contract for substance misuse services with a term of five years and

(3)       That delegated authority is granted to the Executive Director of HASC to extend the contract at the end of the five year term for a further period of up to two years if it is deemed appropriate and subject to available budget.

44.1    Stephen Nicholson, Lead Commissioner HIV Sexual Health & Substance Misuse, introduced the paper that described the problems of substance misuse in the City and the services that were in place to address drug and alcohol addiction.

44.2    Councillor Wealls stated that the success rates did not show results beyond six months and there needed to be a case that showed why a longer term benchmark was not used because the sustainability would indicate whether the services were worthwhile. He asked if there was a reason there were no longer term measures such as one, two or five year metrics presented in the paper.

44.3    Stephen Nicholson responded that he would look in to the success rate data that was mandated by Public Health England and report back to the Board.

44.4    The Director of Public Health responded that the metrics were national KPIs and monitoring systems which was comparable data that was quality assured across the country however they could explore options for longer term data although this would not then be comparable data to other areas.

44.5    The Executive Director- Adult & Social Care acknowledged this was a fair point and they would look how to get that into the specification for a report in choosing a future provider to form a part of the procurement on a local level with local data. He stated they we happy to explore this route however there would be issues surrounding the validity of quantitative data collected due to the position of patients 18 months ahead, for instance they may have moved out of the area.

44.6    The Director of Public Health stated he would first like to look at the feasibility, the advantages measured against the cost and the judgement on the reliability and validity of the longer term data collected.

44.7    Dr David Supple agreed with Councillor Wealls in the fact that the quality of the service had to be assessed because the service experience was not the same as service outcome.

44.8    Councillor Moonan Stated that quality and sustainability of outcomes were the goal; however that judgement needed to be put the provider, many patients were going back to environments that were not helpful for their recovery and there were other players and organisations involved in creating and maintaining the desired long term results.

44.9    Councillor Page asked whether there was knowledge and research on whether six month benchmark was a strong success indicator because this could be substantial longevity for addicts.

RESOLVED:

(1)      That the procurement by tender for substance misuse services be approved;

(2)      That delegated authority is granted to the Executive Director of Health & Adult Social Care (HASC) to undertake the procurement and award of a contract for substance misuse services with a term of five years and

(3)      That delegated authority is granted to the Executive Director of HASC to extend the contract at the end of the five year term for a further period of up to two years if it is deemed appropriate and subject to available budget.