Decision details

1.                      RECOMMENDATIONS

1.1.                 That the Cabinet Member for Family Services and Public Health approved the proposed contract extension of the CLCH Health Visiting Service. The total cost of the six-month contract extension period was £1,725,909.

1.2.                 That the Cabinet Member for Family Services and Public Health agreed the recommendation to allow the Family Nurses Partnership contract to end and that this group of young families were supported through a more enhanced Health Visiting offer and Early Help offer.

2.                      REASON FOR DECISION

2.1.                 This presented a timely opportunity to review current service delivery and outcomes as part of a wider pre-birth to five years pathway redesign. This six-month extension ensured continuity of service whilst an option for a longer-term model of delivery was developed. We had taken a partnership approach to exploring alternative ways to delivering elements of the Healthy Child Programme to consider and identify opportunities to ensure it was aligned into wider pre-birth to five years pathways including best start, school readiness and with a good focus on speech and language development.

2.2.                 The contract extension period would also provide us with time to identify at test new ways of working and to develop the service specification ready for a new contract. It would accompany the pre-birth to five years agenda and would be sustainable by utilising the wider workforce. The contract extension period would provide us with additional time to develop and pilot and to embed an integrated model utilising the wider workforce which would inform the future delivery model and commissioning intentions.

2.3.                 Negotiations with the current provider have ensured that the quality of the service will continue alongside this work to support the development of a new model in the longer term.