Sunderland CCG issued a Request for Quote for the above contracts on 11th July 2016.
Support for, and development of, the city’s General Practice workforce is very much in line with the Alliance’s objectives and the Alliance submitted a response to the RfQ. Deadlines were very tight with responses due within two weeks, but, fortunately, the Alliance was successful and we look forward to delivering the contract on your behalf.
As you might be aware, the timelines of education providers had required the commencement of delivery prior to the issue of the RfQ. HCAs were already recruited, and the advert for Practice Nurses was live. As such, a key requirement for bidders was to be able to mobilise immediately, and Jayne McQuillan has joined us part-time on a short term contract to ensure we were able to mobilise within a couple of days of being notified of our successful bid. Jayne has considerable experience as a Nursing Manager at South Tyneside Foundation Trust.
You should have already been contacted to express your interest in hosting a Practice Nurse, but, if not, please get in touch with Jayne as soon as possible. Jayne will be able to explain your obligations in more detail, but in essence, to recognise the practices’ support for the development of the nurse, the CCG will contribute towards the employment costs. And you will, of course, be well placed to recruit the nurse on a permanent basis at the end of the programme.
For those practices not able to host a nurse or HCA at this time, a further cohort will be recruited next year, details to follow in due course.