Purpose

Brief Description

The purpose of this citywide service is to facilitate timely discharge from hospital for people who have no reason to reside (NRTR) through time limited, reenabling support from contracted Homecare providers, prior to a Care Act assessment taking place. The council intends to undertake a competitive tendering exercise to contract with up to six CQC registered Homecare providers for one year from April 2027 to 31st March 2028 with the option to extend for up to a further 12-month period. This is a short contract to allow time to refine the optimal future service model.

Impact On Wards

This is a citywide service that already exists but that will be commissioned by the council instead of the ICB from April 2027. The Executive Member for Equality, Adults and Health was briefed regarding this matter on 17th August and will be briefed again on 22/09/26 prior to DDP.

Financial and procurement implications

The total indicative budget for this would be £1million per annum – so up to a maximum of £2million if the extension is utilised. The funding mechanism is the Better Care Fund.

Partnership working

LCC have worked in partnership with Leeds Community Healthcare Trust and WYICB on this project.

Decision

The Chief Officer, Resources & Strategy approved the procurement of the Short Term Assessment at Home Service as set out in this report. The contract will commence 1st April 2027 until 31st March 2028 with the option to extend for 12 months in any combination. The indicative annual value of the contract will initially be £783,000 but this may increase up to a maximum of £1,000,000 depending on any potential service developments and associated additional funding. If the extension period is utilised the contract value will be up to a maximum of £2,000,000.00 for the full contract period. Funding will be transferred to the Council from the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (WYICB) via the Better Care Fund.