Agenda item

RESOLVED

To agree the 1 year extension of the City and Hackney Stop Smoking Service until the 30th of June 2024 at a maximum value of £924,271

REASONS FOR DECISION

Option 4 has been recommended below on the basis that it will allow for a comprehensive service redesign to take place without disrupting the provision of the current service.

The Public Health department has been heavily involved in the borough’s Covid-19 response since March of 2020. Public Health’s role in the response involved significant additional delivery, such as; creating and managing the City and Hackney Health Protection Board which met weekly to coordinate the response to the pandemic at a local level, developing a local outbreak control plan, coordinating the targeted management of local outbreaks, setting up Covid-19 testing sites, setting up and running a local contact tracing system, creating a new Covid-19 data dashboard and leading key programmes to support the local pandemic response (notably mobilising a Public Health Community Champions programme and a new VCS grants programme). These initiatives, among other aspects of the local pandemic response, have been predominantly delivered using existing staff resources.

During the Covid-19 period, staff resources were utilised to prioritise the borough’s pandemic response. The demand that the pandemic response put upon the Public Health team meant that the service essentially went into business continuity in March 2020. Consequently, many procurement related activities could not take place during this period.

The disruption of the Covid-19 period caused a significant backlog in commissioning activities which is still being worked through. Additional staffing resources have been recruited to support this work and where it is safe to do so, some contracts for non-core services have been allowed to end. However, even with these measures in place it has still been necessary to prioritise and  it is for this reason that a 1 year extension to the existing contract is recommended. This will allow sufficient time for the  comprehensive re-procurement of this key Public Health service.

During the extension period, a wider review of the tobacco control strategy in Hackney will be completed. Resident and stakeholder engagement will be carried out in order to redesign a more responsive stop smoking service specification, informed by the latest evidence and best practice guidance. The one year extension will also allow sufficient time to ensure continuity of service whilst this comprehensive review and redesign process is completed. In particular, this will allow time for the insourcing of the service to be fully considered and detailed plans developed as appropriate.

Public Health is satisfied with the current performance of the City and Hackney Stop Smoking Service and there is an excellent working relationship with the existing provider. The proposed extension will ensure that a high quality stop smoking offer remains available to City and Hackney residents whilst the procurement process is completed.

With only a limited staff resource available, Public Health has taken a risk based approach to the services it prioritises for procurement. This  service is currently delivered by a neighbouring NHS trust and it is unlikely that the proposed extension will be challenged. NHS providers are under considerable pressure and are prioritising the delivery of existing services. In addition, following the passing of the Health and Care Act 2022 providers are increasingly focusing on partnership working with local commissioners Changes to the provider selection regime for health, including Public Health services, are anticipated but the timetable currently is to be confirmed.

There is an ongoing business need for this service and the proposed extension will ensure that it can continue to be delivered on an appropriate legal basis. Substantial resources have gone into resolving the backlog of procurement activity that has built up but COVID-19 was a worldwide pandemic which prevented the Public Health service from delivering its planned procurement programme and this could not reasonably have been foreseen by commissioners.