Dynamic Purchasing System for Care Homes 23 & 25 May 2017

Brief Overview There are about 4,600 care home places for older people across 105 care homes in Oxfordshire. The County purchases just over one third of these places spending over £60m, with Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group purchasing a further 9%. The Council purchases places in virtually every care home in the county The County spends about £20m on care homes for people with learning disabilities, with most placed out of County. The County spends about £4m on care homes for adults with a physical disabilities.

Dynamic Purchasing System The Council has introduced a Dynamic Purchasing System for care homes from January 2017 The Dynamic Purchasing System enables care home providers to become approved suppliers of care homes Providers have to make an application for the DPS through the Council electronic procurement portal The DPS for care homes is open for providers to apply at any time Care home providers must meet certain pre-qualification requirements to be accepted on the DPS

Application process for the DPS Applicants must meet the Council’s selection criteria – in particular the home must not have an overall rating of Inadequate by the Care Quality Commission and/or be under the Council's Serious Concerns framework The provider must first register on the South East Business portal as a supplier - www.businessportal.southeastiep.gov.uk Registration will provide access to the application documentation There is a self assessment form that need to be completed, identifying each home that is to be included on the DPS Applicants must sign a copy of the DPS Agreement Applicants will be notified whether or not their application is successful

Benefits to Providers Providers that are accepted onto the DPS will be approached first by the Council for any placement There is no obligation on providers to bid for a placement Providers that are accepted onto the DPS will be placed on the Council’s eMarketplace with a logo against their name This will attract interest from self-funders who are increasingly approaching the Council for information and advice. Providers will be able to update their details on the eMarketplace and these will feed through the DPS

Contract Issues There is no obligation on providers to bid for a placement Indicative prices can be changed at any time; requires Council approval but this will not be withheld The provider can give the Council 1 month’s notice to terminate DPS agreement Prices for placements made through the DPS will be reviewed annually Termination clauses for placements are the same as those for current spot contract

Response to the DPS The response from the care home market to the DPS is as follows: Providers Number of care homes Expressed Interest and intends to apply 6 7 Intends to apply but not yet Expressed interest 10 28 Considering it 5 TOTAL 21 40 Plus already applied 24 38 GRAND TOTAL 45 78

Purchasing care home placements Care home places will be purchased from the DPS in one of two ways   The Council’s Care Sourcing and Placement Team is responsible for purchasing spot placements for adults Spot contracts for individual placements Most the County’s placements for adults Block contracts for a specified volume About 525 places are currently purchased in care homes for older people

eBrokerage System for spot placements eBrokerage is the electronic system the Council has introduced to call off spot contracts from providers on the DPS The system is intended to introduce a more efficient process for communicating with care homes, as opposed to phoning each home This doesn’t mean that the Council stops using the phone once the request is made through the system The system has been slow to introduce, but we are looking at ways to improve its use e.g. feedback to providers

Calling off block contracts The Council is using the DPS to call off block contracts for care homes Block contracts for 35 interim beds have already been called off from the DPS providers, starting from 1 April 2017 The Council has send an invitation to DPS providers for: An additional 10 interim beds Block contracts for about 20 beds for up to 2 years. The Council is also considering going out to the DPS for a block contract for Intermediate Care Beds.

Bidding for block contracts A provider can bid where it is on the DPS or has made an application to the DPS by the closing date of 1 June Simplified bid documentation Block Rate Residential Care LOCALITY Name of Home Number of places Weekly Cost £ North Locality   City Locality South Locality TOTAL COST £

Help and Support We can provide you with help and support on: How to log onto the procurement portal and download the bid documentation How to apply to the DPS and obtain a copy of the application form and DPS agreement