We were delighted to see our client BICS (Brighton & Hove Integrated Care Services) lead a consortium of independent sector and NHS providers that won a five-year contract, worth £210 million, to provide a new integrated musculoskeletal service across central Sussex.Called the Sussex Musculoskeletal (MSK) Partnership, the consortium is made up of: Brighton & Hove Integrated Care Service, a federation of doctors; charity Horder Healthcare; Sussex Community NHS Trust and the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
The new service, which launches in October, was drawn up by commissioners and locals to provide a joined-up service for patients with joint, bone and muscle pain. It will work on a ‘hub and spoke’ model with central hubs providing specialist treatment supported by smaller spoke facilities offering more standard treatments. The idea is that this will allow more patients to be treated closer to home.
Brighton & Hove, Crawley & Horsham and Mid Sussex clinical commissioning groups drew up and awarded the contract.
The consortium will be supported by other organisations as well. The National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society will provide advice and materials, the Medical Imaging Partnership will carry out the scans and x-rays, and Brighton &Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and Sussex & Surrey Healthcare NHS Trust will also provide care.
Further support for the project will also be provided by private providers Nuffield Health and Spire Healthcare, charities the Crawley Ethnic Minority Partnership and the Fed Centre for Independent Living, the Carers Centre for Brighton & Hove and the Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Peter Devlin, joint clinical director for Sussex MSK Partnership, said: “Sussex MSK Partnership will transform the way that people experience NHS services, by really joining together the way people move through treatment, from simple advice to complex surgery. We will provide people with the information they need to make choices and take control of their care at every step. For the first time, mental health and wellbeing will be truly integrated with physical health services, and our partnership with third sector organisations makes sure that the patient’s voice is at the heart of everything that we do.”Sussex MSK Partnership will also bid for two other musculoskeletal contracts due to be procured by CCGs for East Sussex and coastal West Sussex.