Re-opening of Any Qualified Provider accreditation for Level 3 Talking Therapies (IAPT) Service for Bristol Clinical Commissioning Group

NHS Bristol Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) currently commissions an Improving Access to Psychologicial Therapies (IAPT) service in line with national guidance and local requirements from suitably qualified healthcare providers. This service is commissioned in an urban area with a very diverse population and identified areas of high need, including particular needs for psychological therapies.

Following a major consultation exercise in 2011, the commissioners undertook a complete redesign of mental health services in the wider Bristol area. The current IAPT contract has been in place since October 2012, and provides a service model to citizens of Bristol consisting of two main elements: • Front Door – provision of an initial single point of access for new and repeat referrals, assessments, initial intervention, and referral on to subsequent levels of therapy. • Subsequent levels of therapy and interventions being provided by a range of providers, all of whom have been accredited through the Any Qualified Provider (AQP) route and are included on a framework.

As the IAPT service has developed in Bristol, it has become clear that there is an extremely high demand for particular interventions and treatments, and current AQP capacity to meet this demand is limited. To resolve this the CCG has decided to re-open the AQP framework for providers who are able to deliver any of the range of Step 3 1:1 therapies listed below: • Counselling for Depression • Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) • Trauma-focused counselling • Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) with Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) Providers will need to deliver high quality, efficient services which are responsive to the needs of the local communities.

Bristol has a number of communities that are hard to reach due to language and culture, and the CCG is keen to find providers who are able to work with these communities to bring services to them. The service will be commissioned using the AQP process.

In securing services under the AQP process, assurance of competence, quality and safety standards will be required. Any provider will be eligible to join the qualified provider list subject to demonstrating competency against specified criteria.

Qualified providers will be expected to deliver the service under the NHS Standard Contract. As a qualified provider there are no levels of guaranteed activity.

Payment is made based on actual provision. As this advert is for the re-opening of an existing AQP service that commenced in November 2012, new entrants will be qualified for the remainder of the current contract period, ending 31st October 2016. Expressions of interest must be received by 12 Midday on 28th May 2015.