NENC065 - North East and North Cumbria Mental Health Secure Patient Transport Service

NHS North East North Cumbria Integrated Care Board is undertaking market engagement in relation to the future provision of a Mental Health Secure Patient Transport Service across the North East and North Cumbria Region. NENC ICB is hosting an information session for providers interested in the future delivery of Mental Health Secure Patient Transport Services across the North East and North Cumbria at 3:00pm on Monday 07 September.

The session will provide an overview of a number of potential service delivery models currently being explored and explain how local framework arrangements could potentially be applied to support service delivery across the region. Following the market engagement session, NENC ICB will issue a Request for Information (RFI) on Tuesday 08 September 2026.

The purpose of the RFI is to gather feedback and gain a better understanding of the operational, commercial and contractual considerations associated with the proposed service models, together with alternative approaches, refinements or innovations that providers may wish to suggest. Providers are encouraged, but are not required, to attend the market engagement session.

Any information presented during the session, including presentation materials, anonymised questions and answers, and any associated clarifications, will be made available to all interested organisations through the Atamis portal. Organisations that are unable to attend the session will therefore have the same opportunity to review the information and participate in the subsequent RFI exercise.

Any future opportunity is subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 do not apply to this award.

It is important to note that this Prior Information Notice (PIN), market engagement exercise and associated RFI do not constitute a call for competition, procurement process, pre-qualification questionnaire or provider selection process. Participation is entirely voluntary and will not confer any advantage, preferential treatment or special status in relation to any future procurement activity.

Please confirm via the Atamis Portal if you wish to attend the market engagement online session by providing the name(s) and email address(es) of those attending. Attendees should have sufficient subject-matter knowledge to contribute insight regarding service delivery, operational challenges and market considerations.

This PIN is intended as an awareness, communication, and information sharing exercise. Attendance of this event, or response to the RFI is no indication of a commitment to participate in the any future process nor does it infer any preferential or special status on those individuals and organisations who attend this session.

NENC ICB is utilising an electronic tendering tool to manage this RFI exercise and communicate with potential providers. Accordingly, there will be no hard copy documents issued to potential providers and all communications with NENC ICB, including EOI and RFI submissions, will be conducted via Atamis: https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome If you have already registered on the system (e.g. to access contracts with another Health Family organisation) then there is no need to re-register.

If you have not already done so you should now register as a Supplier on the shared system. You can register here: https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome It is free to register on the portal and it can be accessed at any time of day providing you have a working internet connection.

The market engagement session will be held via Microsoft Teams on Monday 07 September 2026 at 3:00pm. Joining instructions will be issued via the Atamis messaging facility to organisations that confirm attendance.

The RFI documentation will be accessible from Tuesday 08 September 2026 and completed RFI responses must be returned by 12:00 on Friday 18 September 2026. Additional information: Previous Notice - 2026/S 000-018591 (RFI)