23.11.16
Virgin Care wins contracts worth £65m in Lancashire
Virgin Care has been awarded another pair of NHS contracts after being announced as the new community and urgent care provider by West Lancashire CCG.
The company will take over the five-year contracts for community health services, worth £45m, and urgent care services, worth £20m, on 1 April 2017.
The company has acquired a string of NHS contracts recently, including a £700m health and care co-ordination contract in Bath and North East Somerset and a £17m a year community care contract in Guildford and Waverley.
Dr John Caine, chair of the CCG, said: “We are pleased to announce that Virgin Care has been successful in this process. Through the bid Virgin Care demonstrated a true understanding of our vision and we are assured it will deliver a quality service for our local community within this new model of care.”
The current provider, Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust, was not shortlisted for the contracts. It was rated as ‘requires improvement’ by the CQC last week, after receiving the same rating the previous year.
The other bidders for community care were another private company, Optum Health Solutions, and two NHS foundation trusts, Lancashire Care and Bridgewater Community Healthcare. Optum was the only other bidder for the urgent care contract.
Claire Heneghan, chief nurse of NHS West Lancashire CCG, said Virgin Care would “develop and enhance community and local walk-in and out of hour’s services” in order to relieve pressures on urgent care.
The CCG has established a plan for joined-up care, ‘Building for the Future’, which aims to help residents be in more control of their own health, have better access to health services and receive co-ordinated and personal support.
A Virgin Care spokesperson said: “We are really pleased to have been selected to deliver the local vision for urgent and community care across West Lancashire. We look forward to continuing our engagement with the local community so we can provide a high quality service that has been shaped by the people who use it.”
The CCG added that the decision had been made “following a stringent procurement process” and consultation with staff and the local community. It also assured patients that services will continue to be delivered as part of the NHS and will remain free at the point of contact.
In an article yesterday, Stephen Dalton, the interim chief executive of the NHS Confederation, argued that private companies should not be seen as “bogeymen” in the NHS.
(Image c. Peter Byrne)
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