Agenda item

Report of the Director of Public Health

The Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Public Health which sought approval to complete a tender exercise to procure a Stop Smoking Service for Sefton, as the existing contract with LCH was due to expire on 31March 2017 and the current provider would no longer exist after this time, and existing contracts with individual pharmacies would expire on 31March 2017.

Decision Made: That

(1)       approval be given to the tender process to procure a Stop Smoking Service for Sefton;

(2)       the contract period be 2 years from 1st April 2017 to 31st March 2019, with an option to extend for three x one year periods;

(3)       the value for the re-procurement be authorised at a ceiling price of £420K per annum plus an additional £250K for the supply of pharmaceutical product, product use advice and support in pharmacies; and

(4)       the Director of Public Health in consultation with the Cabinet Member Health and well being be granted delegated authority to authorise the award of the contract resulting from the procurement.

Reasons for Decision:

The existing contract with LCH was due to expire on 31March 2017 and the current provider will no longer exist after this time.

The replacement contract would be for a 2 year core period, with the option to extend for up to 3 (individual) periods of 12 months.

The Stop Smoking service is fundamental to the overall Integrated Wellness Service recently commissioned.

The new procurement would create the opportunity to align the Pharmacy Stop Smoking offer with the Core offer, and remove the management and clinical responsibility for the pharmacy contribution from the council. 

The new procurement would enable the core service to effectively manage the complete offer (pharmacy and core) to ensure that there is appropriate smoking cessation support for all residents across Sefton.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

Continue to contract with individual pharmacies to provide low level support and supply of pharmaceutical products to assist smokers who wish to quit.  Management support and clinical risk lies with the Council, unnecessarily.  

Have a Pharmacy offer only. Pharmacies are not effective in supporting less motivated, more challenging and most at risk clients to quit.  Some pharmacies will only supply pharmaceutical drug support, not motivational support.

Have a Core service offer only. The budget for the core service has already been reduced by almost 50% for 2016/17, resulting in a more targeted service for the most vulnerable clients, including pregnant women, people with poor mental health and people living in the most deprived areas. The pharmacy element provides lower level support for more motivated clients to ensure coverage across all areas. The pharmacy element also provides the drug and supply of pharmaceutical support.  

The implications of deciding not to procure a stop smoking service would be:

• The contract with LCH will expire resulting in no service provision for local residents. If permission is not granted then there will not be enough time to complete the tender process.
• An increase in smoking prevalence and potential longer term increase in poor health.
• An increased demand on health and social care services if prevention and harm reduction support does not exist.