Expansion or provision of new general practitioner medical surgery and associated facilities serving the residents of the Ashingdon Road development, Rochford

Descriptions

This Intended Approach Notice to follow the Most Suitable Provider Process, pursuant to The Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023 (the Regulations). The Contracting Authority, NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board (the Authority) is using the most suitable provider process (the Process) as defined by Regulations 6(6) and 10) to award a Land Option (“the Contract”) via a mixed procurement (commencing 25th March 2025), for the development and delivery of a General Practitioner Medical Surgery and associated facilities and services under a General Medical Services (GMS) contract (the Requirement). The opportunity is deemed to comprise a mixture of in-scope health care services and out-of-scope non-healthcare services. The main subject-matter of the contract is deemed an in-scope health care service because the estimated lifetime value of the health care services being delivered under the MSPs existing GMS contract is higher than the value of the one-off sum associated with the Land Option and associated capital works (non-healthcare services). The Authority is of the view that separating out the process around selecting an appropriate GP Practice to award the Land Option to, from the selection of a GP Practice to deliver general medical services from the healthcare premises developed on the land would have a materially adverse impact on the Authority’s ability to act in accordance with the procurement principles. Further details of the Authorities assessment leading to the decision to undertake a mixed procurement under PSR can be found in detail at the attached document titled Supplementary Information for the PIN _ Ashingdon Road 04.03. For avoidance of doubt, this Process will not result in the Authority and the most suitable provider (MSP) entering into a new contract. The Authority is responsible for running the Process as the legal entity responsible for commissioning Primary Medical Services in Mid and South Essex. The Authority and existing GP Practices that have expressed an initial interest in being considered as the MSP are already within contractual arrangements via each Practice’s existing GMS. Instead, the Process intends to identify and award the opportunity to enter a Land Option with Bloor Homes and Rochford District Council. The Authority is expecting the council/developer to transfer the land directly to the MSP following the successful conclusion of this exercise. The MSP will be responsible for working with the council to develop the site for delivery under their existing GMS contract. Further work will be needed as the site develops to amend the MSP's existing contract to reflect any proposed plans (for example, whether it is an additional branch site or a relocation). The development has made a financial contribution of £262,300 available to the MSP that purchases the land, to support the improvement of healthcare services in Rochford, which is the value that has been communicate in this Notice as the estimated total value. The MSP will be required to source the necessary capital to implement the requirement through solutions such as partnering with a specialist healthcare facility developer or some form of borrowings. No further capital resource is available through the NHS to support build costs. The estimated lifetime value of the Land Option may be between £3.75m and £5.25m based on an NHS compliant build costing in the region of £5,000-7,000 per square metre. The planning permission shows the land could accommodate a healthcare building of 750m2 plus on-site parking. The estimated lifetime value of the existing GMS/PMS contract could be between £26m and £99m depending on which Practice is selected (because it is based on the global annual sum of their existing contract and a 45-year contract duration).