Bracknell Forest Council - Forestcare Evaluation

The Council is seeking to establish a Contract for conducting a detailed evaluation of Forestcare services. Bidders are invited to submit a quotation for these services as set out in the Specification, attached separately.

BFC are seeking to appoint a suitably qualified provider to support as a delivery partner to work with BFC through a joint delivery approach to review and evaluate the current range of Forestcare services in order to inform future improvement opportunities. The adult social care element of the programme in Bracknell Forest has a focus on ensuring that we transform and change to give ourselves a long-term sustainable future.

Forestcare is a key system partner, acting as a strategically significant service which supports over 3,200 vulnerable adults (of which over 1000 are Bracknell Forest residents) to live safely and independently. The monitoring, response and out-of-hours functions act as front-door demand management mechanisms for Adult Social Care, Urgent Care, ambulance services and hospitals.

A recent Strategic Commissioning Overview has shown that from a commissioning perspective Forestcare represents high value for money prevention despite being projected to operate a net deficit of approximately £70,000 in 2026/2027 - which must be considered against the significantly higher system costs that would arise were Forestcare to be reduced or de-commissioned. The operating model for Forestcare is resource intensive and currently incorporates a significant amount of down time that is not being recovered from traded activities.

This is a key driver for the overall service deficit which supports the current requirement for an urgent, detailed evaluation of the service. The evaluation needs to go beyond incremental change and focus on the fundamental design of the service.

It should consider how the service can retain its strengths while addressing the structural issues that are driving inefficiency and financial pressure. This includes re-examining how the service is staffed, what services are delivered, how these are funded, and how technology can be used to enable a more effective and sustainable model. Carrying out a detailed evaluation will help to ensure the service can continue to operate effectively, meet future demand and remain sustainable over the long term.