Decision details

Purpose of Report: On 16 March 2023 Executive approved the negotiation, development and entering into of a Section 75 partnership agreement with York and Scarborough Hospitals NHS Trust (the “Trust”) from 1 July 2024 for the provision of Specialist Sexual Health Services (“SSHS”) across the city. Executive also granted related approvals regarding a SSHS Section 75 agreement.
Since then, however, the complexity of the negotiations for this Section 75 arrangement, together with the challenging financial envelope available for the service, has led to delays in the process which means that the deadline of completion by 1 July 2024 is now considered highly unlikely.

Resolved:

                      i.         Approved a 6 month + 6-month variation and extension to the existing Integrated Sexual Health Services contract with York and Scarborough NHS Hospitals Trust from 1st July 2024 and 1^st January 2025 and to delegate to the Director of Public Health (in consultation with the Head of Procurement and the Director of Governance or their delegated officers) the authority to take such steps as are necessary to agree, award and enter the resulting variation and extension agreement;

                    ii.         Approved the proposed staged approach in relation to service changes to the Integrated Sexual Health Services contract as set out in this report at paragraph 5 and to delegate to the Director of Public Health (in consultation with the Head of Procurement and the Director of Governance or their delegated officers) the authority to take such steps as are necessary to conduct review, consultation and negotiations and subsequent authority to agree and entre into any resulting variation agreement(s) agreed;

                   iii.         Approved the award (subject to the satisfactory conclusion of any related procurement processes) of a 6 month + 6 month contract from 1st July 2024 and 1st January 2025 for a LARC Service contract to Nimbuscare Limited and to delegate to the Director of Public Health (in consultation with the Head of Procurement and the Director of Governance or their delegated officers) the authority to take such steps as are necessary to agree, award and enter any resulting agreement;

                  iv.         Approved the continuation of negotiations and (in the event of successful negotiations and review) the entry into a Section 75 Partnership Agreement with York and Scarborough Hospital NHS Trust under Section 75 of the National Health Services Act 2006 and to delegate to the Director of Public Health (in consultation with the Head of Procurement and the Director of Governance or their delegated officers) the authority to take such steps as are necessary to agree, award and enter the resulting agreement to commence on or before 1st July 2025;

                    v.         That in the event that the Section 75 arrangements at (d) cannot be agreed or are not viable, to delegate authority to the Director of Public Health in consultation with the Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, to approve the carrying out of an appropriate procurement process and to delegate to the Director of Public Health (in consultation with the Head of Procurement and the Director of Governance or their delegated officers) the authority to take such steps as are necessary to procure, award and enter into the resulting contract.

Reason:     The above will secure the sexual health service and

LARC provision in the short term whilst negotiations continue to potentially enable a Section 75 partnership agreement to be agreed and put in place. The Section 75 agreement is proposed to last for up to 10 years, the requirement to ensure that this is completed in the most robust way is essential as over the lifetime

of the Section 75 agreement the budget allocation will be more than £18 million. In the event of Executive approving the above recommendations officers will conduct all necessary review and procedure in accordance with the Contact Procedure Rules ("CPRs”). This will include the undertaking of a CPR 26 waiver process internally (in accordance with CPR 26.2).