Agenda item

The purpose of this report is to seek feedback and comments from Health and Adult Social Care Policy and Scrutiny Committee ahead of the report to the Executive in February 2023.

Members considered a report that sought their feedback on the options available to the council for the recommissioning of sexual health and contraception services, and to approve the decision to delegate the award of the contract to the Director of Public Health, ahead of it being considered by Executive in February 2023.

The Director of Public Health and the Nurse Consultant provided an overview. They highlighted the key issues within the sexual health service and the proposed procurement strategy for recommissioning the service when existing contracts end in 2024.

The key points raised during the presentation of the report included:

·        Local authorities had a statutory duty to commission specialist sexual health and contraception services for their population.

·        The integrated sexual health service, including the specialist element of the service, was currently awarded to York &

Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

·        The contract would be awarded for five years with an option to extend by a further five years. Extensions would be based on performance related quality measures and delivery of key health outcomes.

·        If no suitable market response was received, the option of entering into a Section 75 partnership agreement with the Trust would be explored.

·        A benchmarking exercise showed that other local authorities on average spent 16.44% of their Public Health Grant allocation on sexual health services, with York spending around 24%. This was due to York having the largest proportion of 15 to 24 year olds in its population, who were the highest users of sexual health services.

Members were also informed that City of York Council currently had a Section 75 agreement with the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board for the provision of Long Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) in primary care. Under this Section 75 agreement, the council had an obligation to commission a LARC service that covered both NHS gynaecological LARC and the council’s contraceptive LARC services until 2026. The LARC element therefore would be dealt with separately and the legal options for this would be explored more fully in the Executive report. 

[Cllr Vassie joined the meeting at 4:30pm.

An adjournment took place between 4:42pm and 4:44pm.

The Corporate Director of Adult Social Care and Integration joined the meeting at 4:45pm.]

During discussion and in answer to questions raised from Members, it was noted that:

·        Consultation exercises were underway, as well as a service user questionnaire and a wider stakeholder survey. On completion, a report would be produced for Executive outlining the feedback received.

·        The service specification was currently being developed, subject to feedback as part of the consultation. The specification would set out City of York Council’s ambition for the transformation of sexual health services in York.

·        Conversations with York St John University and the University of York would continue to support and inform the service specification. 

·        The contracts would be benchmarked against the Public Health Outcomes Framework.

The Committee noted the options available and the challenging cost implications to deliver this specialist service and welcomed a contract with a stable local provider.

Resolved: That the recommendations below be presented to the Executive for decision:

(i)           Authorise officers within City of York Council to approach the market to inform the commissioning and procurement of a sexual health service to start from 01 July 2024.

(ii)         Authorise the Director of Public Health, in discussion with the Executive Member with responsibility for the Public Health portfolio, to accept the highest scoring tender in accordance with evaluation criteria and award a contract.

(iii)        Delegate authority to the Director of Public Health to manage this contract including any variations and planned extensions as per City of York Council policy and procedures.

Reason: To meet the council’s statutory responsibilities under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and enable sexual health services to be available to York residents that are clinically safe, value for money and responsive to local need.