Tender reference number
CP1079-14 Emotional Well being Services for Children and Young People
Description
Mental wellbeing in children and young people is defined by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as:
— Emotional wellbeing – being happy, confident and not anxious or depressed
— Psychological wellbeing – a feeling of autonomy and control over one's life, problem-solving skills, resilience, attentiveness and empathy
— Social wellbeing – an ability to have good relationships with others and to avoid disruptive behaviour, violence or bullying
There has been universal acknowledgment in policy over the past ten years of the challenges faced by children and young people in developing resilience and mental wellbeing. For those children and young people with diagnosable mental health problems and their parents or carers and the agencies that support them, the challenges are great.
A number of disorders are persistent and will continue into adult life unless properly treated. It is known that 50 % of lifetime mental illness (excluding dementia) begins by the age of 14 and 75 % by age 18. Young people who are not in education, employment or training, report particularly low levels of happiness and self-esteem. The Macquarie Youth Index 2014 reported that 40 % of jobless young people have faced symptoms of mental illness as a result of being out of work, and one-third of long-term unemployed young people have contemplated suicide.
At the same time, effective treatments have been identified to improve the life chances of children and young people, and to minimise the impact on the long-term health of the population and economic cost to the public purse.
The 2011 mental health strategy No Health without Mental Health: a cross-government mental health outcomes strategy for people of all ages set out a vision of mental health having equal priority with physical health, ending discrimination associated with mental ill-health and for improving mental health across the life course. For children and young people,
Our process
The new service has been developed in co-production with schools, children and young people. In recognition of the fact that the quality of the service would be entirely dependent on the level of engagement from schools, children and young people, stakeholder engagement has been extensive.
Public Health Devon have engaged with all 31 local learning community areas (over 370 schools) in Devon through attendance at Local Learning Community, Primary Support Partnership, Local Area Partnership meetings, as well as other Devon wide events, such as the Behaviour and Attendance Network, Primary Support Partnership Conference and Devon Association of Primary Heads. A Schools Reference Group was also established to ensure schools were at the centre of the decision making process.
The engagement with children, young people and their parents or carers comprised three phases:
i. Understanding the views of children, young people and parents or carers on what support would make a difference to their emotional, psychological and social wellbeing
ii. Facilitating children and young people to participate in the co-design of the new service
iii. Facilitating the involvement of children and young people in the evaluation of the tender for the new service
The engagement included children and young people of a range of ages from across Devon and targeted specific high risks groups, including those groups who may be particularly hard to reach and who might experience greater difficulties accessing and using services (e.g. Gypsy, Roma or Traveller families; English as a second language; lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender; and minority ethnic communities).
The first and second phases of engagement and co-design have been completed. Over 300 children and young people and over 100 parents or carers from across all areas of Devon participated in the engagement through an online survey, face to face individual or group work and focus groups.
A co-design workshop was held to bring together school and young people representatives and a separate co-design event was also held for providers.
The findings from the stakeholder engagement and the co-design events have informed the service specification.
The service required under this contract will be split into two discrete lots each with their own specification the requirements for each are detailed in Appendices A and B. Each lot will be evaluated separately and the result will not influence the evaluation of the other Lot. Each Lot will be awarded to ONE provider but providers are welcome to bid for one or both Lots and if applicable one provider may be awarded both Lots.
Submission Method
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted to:
Official name: Devon County Council
Postal address: County Hall, Topsham Road
Town: Exeter
Postal code: EX2 4QD
Country: GBR
Tenders may be submitted
Submission for one or more lots
Information about a public contract, a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system (DPS)
The notice involves a public contract
Conditions for opening tenders (date)
Check linked documents for details
