The Queen's Nursing Institute
The Queen's Nursing Institute works with the public, nurses and decision-makers to make sure that good quality nursing is available at home for everyone when they need it.
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Case Study
When I placed my first tender for an APMS contract, I knew that I had a very slim chance of being successful as I was not fully prepared at this stage. However, I felt it would nonetheless be a worthwhile experience!
The tendering process initially involved expressing an interest in the bid where documentation was sent inviting me to a workshop taking place before the tender was placed. I attended the workshop and was very surprised at the interest particularly by private companies and GP from across the country. This was an information sharing session on the demographics and needs of the people living in the area. I left this event feeling very optimistic as the PCT had really encouraged tenders from nurses and I felt quite optimistic!
The application process was sent to me with only a 2 week deadline for the application to be completed so my initial felling was that I wouldn’t be able to gather information in time. I had also wanted to set up a consortium of individuals or organisations that would all contribute different skills and qualities to the consortium and this was impossible to do so in the timescale which resulted in my bid being placed as a sole trader!
The application forms actually required very little information and asked for no business plans or financial flows at which I was really surprised at. The application depended greatly on previous achievements on a GMS or PMS contract particularly at the QOF points. This is very difficult for a group of nurses or individuals who want to pursue this road as this will be their first application for a contract. Other information which was asked for was policies and procedures on various aspects, patient involvement and participation and TUPE of staff.
Needless to say I was not successful in this application but the feedback I received was very positive. The main reason I was unsuccessful was being too much of a risk being by myself, although I was disappointed that if that was the only reason then why they didn’t just say if I could set up a consortium then I could be considered!
No other nurses applied for the tender, which I personally think is really sad as many had requested application packs and I feel that nurses need to show that they have the skills and this is a great opportunity to show other bidders what competition they have.
On reflection I thought about what I will do differently next time and things you need to consider if you are interested in going through this process:
- Set up a consortium with individuals with skills in clinical areas, practice management and HR. Alternatively this could be a group of nurses with roles and responsibilities allocated to individuals.
- Have a clear vision for you service making it as original and innovative as possible (put this in your application even if they don’t ask for it!)
- Make sure your application stands out they have hundreds of applications to go through and you want to make sure that yours stands out!
- Try to develop policies as soon as you have set up your consortium as often the deadlines are very short.
- Apply for as many tenders as you can for the experience.
- Patient involvement is very important in today’s NHS so within your current practice start something up e.g. user group
- Don’t give up!
