Orthodontics Service in Essex

NHS Essex Integrated Care Board (the Authority) intend to award multiple contracts for provision of Orthodontic Services (the Service) to the existing providers in Mid and South Essex and North East Essex following a direct award process C under the Provider Selection Regime 23. The contract provides NHS primary care orthodontic services across Essex ICB, comprising the assessment and completion of orthodontic courses of treatment for eligible patients, including active treatment, supervised retention, early intervention and urgent care.

Services are delivered by established specialist orthodontic providers under PDS arrangements, maintaining continuity of care, clinical quality and access for children and young people across the Essex system. Please see II.2.4) Description of the procurement for further details.

Pursuant to the statutory changes effective from 1 April 2026, the commissioning responsibility for the Service in North East Essex and West Essex also transferred from NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board and Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board to NHS Essex Integrated Care Board. Accordingly, the service constitutes an inherited commissioning arrangement arising directly from the organisational transition.

West Essex Orthodontic Services are already in place and are not in scope of this Notice or DAP C. The Contracts provide NHS primary care orthodontic services across Mid and South Essex and North East Essex for eligible children and young people.

Services are delivered by established specialist orthodontic providers under Personal Dental Services (PDS) arrangements, supporting continuity of care, clinical quality and access across the Essex system. The service covers the full orthodontic pathway, including case assessment and treatment planning, active orthodontic treatment using fixed and/or removable appliances, supervised retention following treatment, early orthodontic intervention where clinically indicated, urgent orthodontic care, and ongoing monitoring of treatment outcomes and clinical quality.

Care is provided by appropriately qualified and registered specialist orthodontic clinicians, with patients referred primarily via General Dental Practitioners in line with national commissioning policy and the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN) threshold. Services are provided to patients already in treatment at contract commencement and to new eligible patients referred during the contract term, subject to available commissioned capacity.

Providers are responsible for maintaining continuity of care across long treatment cycles, avoiding disruption to patients mid‑treatment, and ensuring safe handover or transfer arrangements where treatment cannot be completed. All services must be delivered in accordance with the NHS Personal Dental Services Regulations, NICE guidance, Care Quality Commission registration requirements and NHS England orthodontic commissioning standards.

The scope does not introduce new service models, pathways, or materially different activity, and maintains the existing geographic distribution of specialist orthodontic provision across Essex. This approach safeguards service stability, patient safety, access, and system sustainability within a clinically specialised and capacity constrained orthodontic market, where alternative provision cannot realistically be secured without unacceptable risk.

Each separate contract (with exception to Colchester Smiles which is awarded for 3 years, commencing 1 April 2027 and expiring 31st March 2030 with an option to extend for a further 3 years until 31st March 2033) is being awarded for a fixed five year term running from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2032, with a potential extension of up to five years, which if enacted to its full period would bring the end of the contracts to 31 March 2037. The total estimated lifetime value of all contracts being awarded to 13 incumbent orthodontic providers is £92,399,636.79.

The estimated lifetime contract values broken down by awarded provider over the proposed term are as follows: -R Patel & Associates – £4,671,358.85 -Mr H.S. Kehlar and Mr S.

Kumar – £5,854,771.74 -Byles & Sebastian Orthodontic Practice – £18,480,270.73 -Penhaligon Witham Partnership – £3,823,823.20 -Ongar Road Dental Practice – £3,199,108.18 -Mr M. Kazemi and Dr S.

Dhillon – £9,667,188.09 -ORTHOWORLD 2000 LTD – £9,497,521.57 -Down Town Dental Clinic Limited – £8,329,125.10 -Mr N. Shah – £6,871,069.71 -Wickford Dental Practice and Orthodontic Centre – £7,138,403.61 -A.F. Clough Ortho Ltd – £7,423,907.57 -Colchester Smiles – £2,236,012.32 -Colchester Orthodontic Centre – £5,207,076.13