Equity in Action Service

Concepts

• health services
• woking
• clinical services
• service co
• healthcare service users
• equity
• perinatal mental health support
• mental health conditions
• health
• health systems

Location

NHS Surrey Heartlands ICB geography

Description

The services in scope involve community engagement, co-production of solutions, outreach, health promotion, and support in navigating health systems and contain several ambitions for positive local outcomes, all of which require a provider with deep Surrey grassroots reach and trusted relationships, both with other local providers with whom they partner and with the communities served. This notice is a PSR Intention to Award a Contract under the Most Suitable Provider Process. The lifetime value of the contract is £114,145.80. This is a new service awarded to a new provider. Services are intended to be provided from 15th October 2025.

Total Quantity or Scope

The local outcome ambitions for the services within scope of delivery under this contract are described below. • To increase awareness of women's health within ethnic minority communities and contribute to prevention of women's health issues. • To enhance the quality of conversations about women's health and mental health in clinical practice with respect to cultural sensitivities. • To improve physical and mental health outcomes for women from ethnic minority communities. • To improve the mental health of women and birthing people from ethnic minority communities. • To prevent increased severity of mental health conditions through inclusive early intervention. • To support quality of referrals and efficiency of pathways into Tier 3 mental health support for women and birthing people in the perinatal period. • To improve the experience of healthcare service users across Surrey Heartlands. • To contribute to service co-production by capturing the voices of individuals from seldom heard communities and improve equity of access to health services. • To improve cultural awareness and competency in practice and inclusion of services and practice. • To support connections to women's health, diabetes, chronic vascular disease (CVD) and mental health services through community outreach advocacy/bridge of support. • To empower women and birthing people, children and adults to access support and build healthcare literacy. • To target Type 2 diabetes and CVD management education to prevent type 2 diabetes and improve outcomes. • Prevention for families with a history of Type 2 diabetes particularly to prevent occurrence of Type 2 diabetes in children. Services under the umbrella of Health Inequalities in Perinatal Health, Women's Health and Associated Mental Health are • Healthy Eating and Activity Culturally Inclusive Education • Women's 1:1 mental health provision • Women's Health Groups • Health Literacy and Health Check Outreach • Cultural Awareness Training Both the perinatal mental health counselling and Women's Health Groups are clinical services and constitute the main elements of service provision, provided on a weekly to monthly basis. Perinatal mental health support must be provided by a qualified counsellor and the Women's Health Groups must be led by a Community Development Worker (Community development worker specialising in health and wellbeing, specifically women's health. Counselling, social prescribing and psycho-social mental health support means that the clinical element of this contract significantly exceeds 50%.

Award Detail

Award Criteria

CPV Codes

• 85100000 - Health services

Indicators

• Award on basis of price.

Legal Justification

This is a Provider Selection Regime (PSR) Intention to Award Notice. The awarding of this contract 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. The publication of this notice marks the start of the standstill period. Representations by providers must be made to decision makers by 14th October 2025. This contract has not yet formally been awarded; this notice serves as an intention to award under the PSR.

Other Information

This is a Provider Selection Regime (PSR) Intention to Award Notice. The awarding of this contract 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. The publication of this notice marks the start of the standstill period. The prior Intended Approach Notice 2025/S 000-056436 was published on 15 September 2025 at 9:55am. Representations by providers must be made to the relevant authority by 14th October 2025. This contract has not yet formally been awarded; this notice serves as an intention to award under the PSR. Written representations should be sent to syheartlandsicb.contractsadmin@nhs.net. Award Decision Makers: Attendees of Investment and Saving Plan Executive Meeting No conflicts or potential conflicts of interest have been identified. The relative importance and rationale for the key criteria used to make this decision are replicated below. One qualifying and most suitable provider only expressed interest in this service following publication of the Provider Selection Regime (PSR) Intended Approach Notice. Improving access, reducing health inequalities, and facilitating choice 30% - The premise of this service is to ensure contact, health literacy, co-production and provision of services, resources and interventions with a population in Surrey otherwise disadvantaged in accessing healthcare. - Ability to address this inequality, gaining trust, teaching people about potentially lifesaving care, providing training and knowledge, in a personalised inclusive approach providing cultural and religious security, to support them holistically is the core of the service and the model by which it operates. - The service and this provider will prevent gaps in the delivery of care and mitigate missed opportunities for preventative initiatives across diverse communities. - The provider will enable choice to be more easily expressed and accommodated as a consequence of health literacy, health knowledge and education. - The provider will ensure improved access and reduced inequalities without which the other Key Criteria such as Value, Collaboration and Innovation lose significance as an inability to access care at all leads directly to poor outcomes. Integration, Collaboration & Service Sustainability 25% - This service is the embodiment of integration, co-production, co-design and collaboration with communities, neighbourhoods and multi-agency services in Surrey. The provider will reach out to a cohort of people who may be under-served and disadvantaged as a consequence of their education, language, environment, social attitudes in Surrey, living arrangements and potential inability to access services. - This provider effectively collaborates, provides outreach to enhance citizens' experience of living in Surrey and will bring services closer to home, providing for better efficiency and joined up patient care and prevention of poor health outcomes. - Establishing relationships between citizens with known and trusted individuals from this service will ensure interactions are regularised and can be expanded as needed. The service will provide an interface into and encouragement to engage with multi-agency coordination and will contribute to strengthening the overall healthcare experience for these communities. Quality and Innovation 20% - Quality is foundational in providing healthcare and associated services. This provider's outreach model in a community environment, for a vulnerable cohort of people, demonstrates impressive innovation in the delivery of healthcare, training and information. - The use of unconventional social communication channels and working within ethnic communities themselves rather than waiting for individuals to attend a medical setting results in a lived alternate pioneering approach. - The co-production and co-design approach, led by trusted members of the community, with communities, enables continual quality improvement through continued needs and outcomes analysis, service experience and co-design. - The service contract contains SMART quality metrics, safety initiatives, clinical governance, continual assessment and improvement along with assessment regards the highest standards of patient care. Social Value 15% - SMEF supports and represents the needs and aspirations of a growing 23.4% ethnic minority population in Surrey. - SMEF provides support for over 60 grass root community groups, has built relationships between faith groups, and runs projects to help ethnic minority clusters across the county. - The mission of this charity is to enhance the lives of people from ethnic minority communities in and around Surrey, by actively addressing racial inequality within public services and local communities. - Provider service efforts are aligned with the Equality and Human Rights Commission's five key focus areas, which include employment, education, crime, living standards, and health and care. Regards the latter, this service will directly contribute to the wellbeing of ethnic minority citizens in Surrey providing equitable access to healthcare resources, knowledge, and prevention measures, thereby fostering healthier, more resilient lives. - SMEF employs directly from communities within Surrey and fosters career development of people from Surrey's ethnic minority communities and inclusion health groups through training and volunteering opportunities. Value 10% - Financial value for money and sustainability is important but rated less importantly in the context of this service in order not to compromise improving access, reducing health inequalities, facilitating choice, offer a quality and innovation driven service. - The primary focus of this service is to reach under represented cohorts for whom engagement with clinical services may be restricted. The wellbeing and education of these people is paramount. - Efficient use of staff and resources under the model applied to this service should ensure long-term service viability while maintaining high standards. - The model seeks to maximise resources, provide upskilling and varied opportunities for staff and reduce churn, the need for recruitment and training expenditure.