North Yorkshire County Council is seeking views from potential providers of its next generation of weight management services across the county to ensure it can procure the best possible service.
Tackling obesity by encouraging people to take charge of their own health and wellbeing is a priority for the County Council. In North Yorkshire today, 66.7% of adults are classed as overweight or obese.
The County Council currently funds free weight management programmes in each of the county’s seven districts to support people who want to improve their overall health and wellbeing. These are available to people aged 18 or over with a body mass index (BMI) equal to or greater than 25 after referral by their GP, health and social care professional or making a self-referral.
“The programmes were introduced in 2014 as a three-year pilot, which is due to expire next summer, and the County Council is now working on the initial stages of developing a tender for the next generation of programmes,” said Councillor David Chance, North Yorkshire Executive Member for Public Health and Stronger Communities.
“At this stage, the County Council is engaging with the provider market to ensure that the tender will be attractive to anyone wanting to bid to provide the service. A series of questions have been designed to gather information about the procurement options for the new weight management service and anyone wanting to take part can do so until 19 August 2016.”
The council wants to hear from potential providers to ensure that the tender will be attractive to bidders. It wants to take account of the views of people – such as commercial organisations, lifestyle and fitness professionals, local groups and community and voluntary organisations – that have an interest in helping it meet the health needs of the county’s communities. To that end, it has created a short survey designed to gather information about the procurement options for the new weight management service. The results of the survey will inform how this service is commissioned.
A summary document has been produced to explain more about the current service and the options for developing the tender. The summary document and the survey on the procurement model options are available through Yortender using the reference number AC4B – NKD7QX.
The County Council encourages organisations that are not registered on Yortender or are not familiar with it to register now atwww.yortender.co.uk and take the time to become accustomed to it. For further information, use the discussion tab on Yortender.