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Contracting of Homecare Medicines Services

Terminology

All homecare medicines services provided for the NHS must be covered by an appropriate contract in order to comply with the RPS Professional Standards.

Homecare service contracts are formed in a number of parts:

Framework Agreement:

means an agreement between one or more contracting authorities and one or more economic operators, the purpose of which is to establish the terms governing contracts to be awarded during a given period, in particular with regard to price and, where appropriate, the quantity envisaged.

Contract:

A legally binding document between two parties detailing the responsibilities and obligations of each for the successful delivery of the specified products / services.

Service Specification:

A detailed list of the contracting authority’s requirements in relation to the contracted service and/or products. The Commercial Medicines Unit has developed a standard template homecare service specification. This can be found on the Royal Pharmaceutical Society website.

Commercial Offer / Pricing Schedule:

Commercial information relating to costs associated with delivering each and all aspects of the service specification.

Tender Response:

Suppliers' responses to questions asked during a Find a Tender Service (FTS) tender process in relation to compliance and specific methodology of delivery of the service specification.

Terms and Conditions:

Terms to be met by both parties to allow successful provision of the service specification.  The NHMC worked with the homecare medicines services market to develop a dedicated version of the NHS Standard Terms and Conditions for the Supply of Goods and Provision of Services for homecare medicines services. 

NHS T&Cs Homecare Contract Version

NHS T&Cs Homecare FW Version

NHS T&Cs Homecare FW Call-off Terms

Contracting of NHS Funded Homecare Services under a Framework Agreement

The East of England NHS Collaborative Procurement Hub (EoECPH) maintains a homecare medicines services framework agreement available to member trusts. It is also available to other publicly funded bodies subject to the completion of an access agreement – contact pharmacy@eoecph.nhs.uk for further details. The framework agreement provides a compliant route to market for organisations to establish a homecare medicines service. 

The framework agreement defines the required call-off procedure, under the EoECPH framework.  We have provided a user-friendly call-off contract template which includes guidance notes to help users quickly establish the required service with the most appropriate awarded framework supplier.

Contracting of Manufacturer Funded Homecare Services

The Marketing Authorisation Holder will establish a contract with one or more homecare providers to deliver a specified product and associated homecare services to NHS and private patients.These are confidential commercial agreements between private companies; the NHS is not a direct party nor does it have sight of these agreements. This creates a chain whereby the homecare provider must operate in accordance with agreements with both the NHS trust and the Marketing Authorisation Holder: this can present challenges from time to time.  

To support the smooth operation of these models, the NHMC has developed a set of good practice principles for manufacturers to follow when establishing these contracts.  The NHMC also conductsreview process for new / changes to existing manufacturer funded homecare medicines services.

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