Optometry First Services for NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care Board

This Invitation to Tender provides information pertaining to the procurement of Optometry First Services.

The purpose of this procurement is to secure a Service Provider to deliver Optometry First Services across the geographical area covered by NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care Board. The ICB has chosen to follow the Competitive process for this opportunity in accordance with Regulation 11 of the Healthcare Services Provider Selection Regime (PSR) Regulations 2023.

The aim of the community optometry first service is centred around the vision of providing timely, safe, effective, and sustainable integrated eye care services for patients at the right time, in the right location, by the right clinician with an enhanced skillset to deliver care in a community setting.

The service will utilise the knowledge and skills of primary care ophthalmic practitioners to deliver a specialist primary care optometry service where service users will be managed and monitored, where appropriate within the service, in line with the scope and acceptance criteria of each pathway.

The Optometry First Service will deliver a suite of agreed pathways in primary care optometry. Service users will be referred into the service through several routes via STW Referral Management Centre (currently RAS/TRAQS) from GPs, Optometrists, Ophthalmology services, A&E and other urgent eyecare routes. Service users can also self-present or be signposted to the CUES pathway from other routes such as pharmacy and 111. Eye Care emergencies continue to be dealt with in the A&E and Urgent Eye Clinic.

Optometry First Service Pathways include:

• Cataract referral filtering and post-op assessment
• Glaucoma Enhanced Case Finding (ECF), Repeat Readings (RR) and low-risk monitoring
• Medical Retina referral filtering and low risk monitoring
• Community minor and urgent eyecare service (CUES)
• Children's integrated eye care service

NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care Board (ICB) is seeking to award one contract and commission a Lead Provider or Consortium to deliver Optometry First Services in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin for a period of 2 years and 9 months with an optional 2 year extension. available. The Contract will commence on the 1st July 2025.

The ICB has set an affordability threshold for the Procurement and will not to consider Bids that are unaffordable and above the affordability envelope of the project. The ICB may seek clarification on bids that are unusually low. Following clarification, it will reserve the right to not consider Bids that are unusually low. The affordability threshold per annum is £1,484,113 and for the 4 years and 9 months of the contract (including 2 year optional extension) the affordability threshold is £7,049,537. Compliance with the affordability threshold will be assessed at Selection Questionnaire Stage.

Please note: activity figures provided within Annex 5 are estimates only and no guarantees are made as to future service demand.