Virgin Care given green light to provide Devon's Children's services
A major contract to manage and run integrated health and social care community services for children has been given the green light.
The NHS Devon Board and Devon County Councilcabinet have confirmed that Virgin Care will manage and run integrated health and social care community services for children in Devon.
This follows an extensive open procurement process and due diligence exercise to ensure the safe transfer of these services to Virgin Care from 1 April 2013.
Services for children with physical, sensory and learning disabilities; public health nursing services such as health visiting and school nursing; and mental health and wellbeing services, are to be transferred to ensure they continue to work well together in future.
These services, known as integrated children’s services (ICS), are currently provided by NHS Devon and Devon County Council.
They are delivered by approximately 1100 staff; the vast majority employed by NHS Devon. Around 130 council staff will transfer in April, with plans for the remaining 80 staff involved in care management and assessments to be transferred later.
The services were put out to tender following the Government’s national Transforming Community Services directive, requiring all Primary Care Trusts to become commissioning-only organisations. This meant that NHS Devon could no longer work alongside the County Council in providing these integrated services.
From the outset the views of parents and carers, staff and a range of health and social care professionals about how services could be improved was sought. There was strong support to keep these important services integrated, so to provide the best care and support possible to children and young people. Virgin Care were identified as the preferred bidder in July last year.
NHS Devon and the Council believe that appointing a single accountable organisation to deliver the services on their behalf provides the best opportunity to maintain and strengthen the integration of the services.
Rebecca Harriott, director of commissioning development at NHS Devon, said:
“During this process we consulted with parents and carers, staff and a range of health and social care professionals about how services could be improved.
“What became clear was that they all agreed it was essential to keep these important services integrated, to provide the best care and support possible.
“We believe appointing a single accountable organisation to deliver the services provides the best opportunity to maintain and strengthen the integration of the services in Devon.”
Although safeguarding is a key duty for every agency working with children, it should be noted that Child Protection is not a part of this contract and will continue to be the responsibility of specialist children’s social workers within Devon County Council.
The Virgin Care contract will cover the Devon County Council area, excluding Plymouth and Torbay. The contract value for three years is approximately £120m.
