Worcestershire Liaison & Diversion Service

NHS England wish to commission a service which operates across two of the five policing areas for West Mercia which include:

South Worcestershire ( Worcester, Malvern, Droitwich, Pershore and Evesham)

North Worcestershire ( Kidderminster, Bromsgrove and Redditch)

Liaison & Diversion as set out in the Bradley Report 2009 can be defined as “a process whereby people are assessed and their needs identified as early as possible in the offender pathway, thus informing subsequent decisions about where an individual is best placed to receive treatment, taking into account public safety, safety of the individual and punishment of an offence.”

These all age services have a number of core functions including:

• Case identification; • Voluntary Attendance Pathway; • Custodial Attendance Pathway; • Screening/triage; • Assessment (including specialist) & Referral;

The key elements of a full Liaison & Diversion Service as set out in the national operating model include:

• Early intervention; • An all-age service; • Targeted to a range of vulnerabilities including, mental health, learning disabilities, substance misuse, housing, social care and education; • Operating at all points of the justice pathway, including pre-police custody ( for those people interviewed under voluntary attendance), police custody and courts; • 24/7 service with a mixture of core hours agreed to suit operational requirements and out of hours arrangements; • A range of referral pathways;

NHS England have a budget limitation of £250,000 for this project and are looking to gain best value for money from this figure.

NHS England recognise that this figure may not be sufficient to cover the full requirements of the national Liaison & Diversion specification and the bidders responses will be used to gauge the extent to which each bidder can provide the service within this amount.

NHS England would like to make available a report to assist providers in the development of their bids. This is a confidential document, which shall need to be requested via emailing jenny.watson6@nhs.net . This is a document which can only be used for the purposes of the Worcestershire Liaison & Diversion Service and the document is not for wider circulation or publication.