New contracts awarded for Care at Home services
April 7, 2009 9:26 PM
East Lothian Council's Cabinet meeting has noted the decision of the Executive Director of Community Services to approve three external service providers to provide care to adults at home over a three-year period. The three companies, Allied Healthcare Ltd, Goose Green Homecare Ltd and Housecall Care and Support Ltd were appointed following a detailed procurement exercise.
The Council spends approximately £16.5m per year on Care at Home services for adults. The procurement process recently completed was for general services purchased from external companies at a current value of approximately £6.2m per year. Currently there are nine external providers supplying this care and hourly rates charged to the council range from £12.70 to £17.45 per hour for standard daytime hours and can exceed £23.00 at premium rates. The current average rate is £16.70. The hourly rates of the successful providers range from £13.50 to £13.60. This represents a cost reduction of £3.15 per hour.
Cabinet member for Adult Social Care, Cllr. Ruth Currie, said:
"All councils in Scotland are required to tender for services on a regular basis to ensure both quality and value. When choosing the new contractual arrangements we needed to make sure that the best quality care is provided to as many service users as possible using the resources available. The contracts also ensure that continuous improvement will be carried out by working with and monitoring the performance with the providers.
"I am particularly grateful that local service users and carers joined the council in the selection process and agreed with the final selection. As there will be a transition period when clients may transfer to new care providers it is likely that the new contracts will not be fully in place until June 2009. Community Services staff are committed to helping anybody affected by these changes to understand what this will mean to individuals and to minimise any concerns that may be felt."
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