This meeting of the Executive Members will consider a report about the future of the Council’s Clinical Practitioner Service Offer – Psychologically Informed Partnership Approach (PIPA) and the date of future meetings.

Clinical Practitioner Service Offer – Psychologically Informed Partnership Approach (PIPA)

The meeting report pack contains a proposal to seek approval to re-procure the existing PIPA arrangement for the provision of clinical practitioners to support looked after children. The report says

The service offer contributes to a psychologically informed partnership approach to meeting the needs of Looked after Children and those who are Children in Need or on the edge of care. The service has two key inter related strands, both of which centre on psychological approaches.

The report states that the current contract with Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV) commenced on 1 April 2020 and is due to expire on 31 March 2025. The total value for the proposed replacement contract is anticipated to be £4,826,200. The report describes what it says would be the consequences of deciding not to re-procure the service:

To remove this service entirely would result in a loss of support to children and families.

It claims this would:

impact on children, families and workforce that are supported in working with trauma.

and

increase to the demand of an existing stretched CAMHS service, who without the PIPA service would likely not be able to meet the day-to-day demand.

The report says that the re-procurement of the PIPA service would contribute to the council’s People priority. The report contains an Initial Climate Change Impact Assessment, which found no significant climate change implications. An Initial equality impact assessment screening form was completed to determine the relevance of equality to the proposal. A full equality impact assessment is attached.