Driving Innovative models of care through effective commissioning

In 2018-19 DHSC commissioned SCIE to begin work on setting up and developing a Innovation network of local authorities, providers and service users who were open to working in innovative ways. DHSC knew there were sporadic examples of innovative care in the work carried out by local authorities, but we want to better understand the barriers to scaling up innovation across the social care system and across geographies.

The first stage of this work has been a success with over 500 organisations and individuals signed up to the programme. The Innovation Network involves 16 local authorities, 19 providers and 14 national bodies has been set up along with an advisory group.

The network has held two large scale workshops with over 140 people attending, including service users, to discuss the opportunities and barriers to commissioning and supporting the scaling up of innovative care approaches. This has helped policy officials at DHSC better understand the challenges faced by those on the "shop floor" of commissioning.

For phase two of this work SCIE have identified four LA's to take forward the commissioning of innovative approaches to care and support, this could include new asset-based commissioning methods, intergenerational care or testing out how to commission innovative models at scale. The overarching ambition and purpose will be to continue the work of the Network to find and adopt ways of tackling the barriers that hinder the growth and spread of innovation.

SCIE will do this by: - Building on the momentum of the network, creating a national narrative and growing movement committed to developing innovative models of care at scale. - Testing practical ways to support the scaling of innovation; we will work with local areas, providers and interested citizens to test out how we make progress in relation to scaling innovation on the four themes. - Building flexibility within the core offer and overall resources so we can remain agile and adapt to challenges and issues as they arise. DHSC has grounds under r.32 of the PCR2015 to award the contract to SCIE without a call for competition on the basis of: "(ii)competition is absent for technical reasons, (iii)the protection of exclusive rights, including intellectual property rights," Phase 2 of the project is, effectively a continuation of Phase 1 using the same sites and following the same methodology as Phase 1 to conclude the research envisaged and proposed under the project brief as a whole'.

It is not considered realistic that another entity could step in to SCIE's position or provide an alternate service based on these facts. Phase 2 is dependent upon the methodology developed by SCIE which is protected by copyright and/or information confidentiality provisions and the results of the Phase 1 stage of the project.