Community Wheelchair Service in Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich

```json { "overview": "NHS South East London is looking for a provider to run a community wheelchair service for three London boroughs (Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich) serving children and adults. The service covers everything from assessing people's wheelchair needs through to delivering, fitting, repairing and maintaining wheelchairs and related equipment. The contract is worth £9–15 million over 5–7 years depending on the extension period.", "requirements": [ "Must be able to deliver services across all three boroughs (Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich) with equitable access and consistent service standards", "Must provide clinically safe services with robust safeguarding, risk management, incident reporting and clinical governance arrangements", "Must handle referral receipt and management, triage and prioritisation by clinical need", "Must conduct assessments, reviews and reassessments of wheelchair and mobility/postural support needs", "Must prescribe and provide appropriate wheelchairs and associated equipment", "Must fit, set up, hand over equipment and provide user/carer instruction", "Must deliver planned maintenance, urgent repairs and servicing of wheelchairs", "Must manage collection, refurbishment, reuse and replacement of equipment", "Must communicate effectively with service users, carers, referrers and partner agencies", "Must manage personal wheelchair budgets and choice-based approaches if required", "Must collect and report activity, access, quality, performance and outcome data", "Must serve diverse populations including children and young people, people with complex physical disabilities, progressive conditions, and those needing specialist seating/posture management", "Must provide accessible assessment arrangements and delivery locations, including community-based provision and support in other settings", "Must work closely with health, social care, education and community partners for coordinated care", "Must demonstrate approach to reducing waiting times for assessment, equipment provision and repairs", "Must support service sustainability, value for money, effective stock/asset management and continuous improvement", "No specific industry certifications or qualifications explicitly stated — check full procurement documents for clinical and operational accreditation requirements" ], "key_tasks": [ "Receive, triage and prioritise wheelchair service referrals for eligible residents across three boroughs", "Conduct clinical assessments and reassessments to determine wheelchair and postural support needs", "Prescribe and supply appropriate wheelchairs and associated equipment to service users", "Fit, set up and hand over wheelchairs to users and carers with instruction on use", "Deliver planned maintenance and routine servicing of all wheelchairs in use", "Respond to urgent repair requests and fix faulty equipment", "Collect used wheelchairs and manage refurbishment and reuse processes", "Manage replacement cycles for wheelchairs that cannot be repaired", "Maintain clear two-way communication with service users, carers and referring clinicians", "Manage personal wheelchair budgets or choice-based purchasing if the final model includes this", "Collect, analyse and report performance data on activity, waiting times, access, quality and outcomes", "Work with NHS, social care, education and community services to coordinate care for service users", "Reduce waiting times for assessments, equipment delivery and repairs compared to current service", "Ensure services are accessible and responsive to children, young people and adults with complex needs" ], "how_to_read": [ "This is a major NHS contract — the language is clinical and person-centred, but the core work is logistics, asset management and customer service. Don't be put off by health jargon; the service is fundamentally about managing wheelchair stock and keeping people mobile.", "The contract value is large (£9–15 million) but spread across five or seven years and three boroughs — work out what that means per borough, per year and per expected service user to understand the scale. The annual envelope is £1.8–2.2 million, so plan your staffing and operating costs accordingly.", "The 'optional extension period' means the ICB can renew for another two years, but it's their choice, not guaranteed. Plan for the five-year term as firm and the two-year extension as possible revenue.", "Watch for the phrase 'full procurement documents' — the tender notice gives you the headline requirements, but the detailed service specification, activity assumptions, performance targets and mobilisation timetable will be in documents you'll receive when you formally register. Request these early and read them thoroughly before deciding to bid.", "The ICB has done user and carer engagement already — they know what's currently wrong (slow assessments, poor communication, inconsistent repairs). Your bid should directly address these pain points with concrete actions. Look for the engagement feedback when it's published and build your solution around it.", "The contract starts 1 April 2027, which gives you planning time. This is not an emergency procurement — treat the timeline as your opportunity to design the service properly rather than rushing." ], "sme_tips": [ "Consider subcontracting or consortium partnerships: a small business may not have the geographic reach, clinical expertise or asset base to run this alone across three boroughs. Partner with a larger logistics or healthcare provider, or with local charities that have