Transferring Care for 3 individuals with a Learning Disability and/or are autistic who display behaviours that challenge, including those with a mental health condition into Nixon Street-NHS Cheshire & Merseyside ICB

Descriptions

NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit are working as an agent on behalf of NHS Cheshire & Merseyside Integrated Care Board (ICB) who are looking to undertake a procurement for the provision of transferring care for 3 individuals with a learning disability and/or are autistic who display behaviours that challenge, including those with a mental health condition into Nixon Street for patients from Cheshire East Place. This Procurement is to identify a provider to provide care and support services for those individuals who have been identified for the Nixon Street property. initially Nixon Street capital was secured for Cheshire East individuals with a Learning Disability and/or autistic people with behaviours that challenge due to Cheshire East having no suitable accommodation adapted for people with autism and challenging behaviours that offers self-contained accommodation, with specialist adaptations and care. However, this facility will also be able to support individuals being discharged from Cheshire and Wirral Partnership so could be used by Cheshire West and Wirral individuals to ensure the facility is fully occupied and therefore provides value for money. There is also the opportunity to repatriate individuals back into area from Independent Sector facilities should there be capacity. Whilst the facility will prioritise individuals from Cheshire East initially, priority will be given to individuals from the below places, in the below order: a) Cheshire East b) Cheshire West c) Wirral d) New patients being discharged from hospital or repatriating back to area Following this, the ICB would then look to prioritise individuals from other Places across Cheshire and Merseyside ICB Footprint. Nixon Street is a substantial property located in Macclesfield, in close proximity to the town centre. It's location is near the main district general hospital (MDGH) and in short walking distance to the Learning Disability Community Team and Macclesfield Mental Health Services. NHS England (NHSE) have previously provided substantial capital for the renovation of Nixon Street and are looking to handover to the landlord by the end of February 2026, therefore it's key that this service provision is in place to support the mobilisation of the property to support rehabilitation from 1st March 2026. The scheme has been developed specifically for 3 individuals with a Learning Disability and/or Autism who display behaviours that challenge, including those with a mental health condition from the Cheshire area. It has been historically very difficult to find suitable placements for those individuals which can contribute to readmissions and placement breakdowns. This procurement is to provide supportive ongoing clinical care to those individuals who have been discharged from Acute settings. The ICB's focus is to provide homes for people in the community rather than relying on out of area housing pathways once the individual's rehabilitation and treatment has been completed. The Transforming Care programme aims to improve the lives of children, young people and adults with a learning disability and/or autism who display behaviours that challenge, including those with amental health condition. The programme has three key aims: • To improve quality of care for people with learning disability and/or autism • To improve quality of life for people with a learning disability and/or autism • To enhance community capacity, thereby reducing inappropriate hospital admissions and length of stay. The Contract is currently planned to start 1st March 2026. The contract will be for 3 years with an option to extend for a further 2 years, until 28th February 2031.