Emergency contract for new end-of-life carer service in Corby after provider hits trouble

A new end-of-life care provider has had to be brought in to deliver services in the Corby area after its contracted provider hit financial difficulties.

Long-established palliative care provider Marie Curie will now provide the service for the NHS Corby Clinical Commissioning Group after Allied Healthcare, which ran the service under its Primecare company, gave notice in November with the service ending on December 14.

The CCG said it had treated the problem as a ‘major incident’ and had to carry out an emergency tender.

Speaking at the CCG’s board meeting yesterday new chief executive Toby Sanders praised the rapid response of his team when given three weeks notice of the service withdrawal.

He said: “That left us in a position where we needed to find an alternative and the organisation rose to that challenge.

“As a result Marie Curie has been awarded the contract who clearly have expertise.

“They commenced the service last week and the feedback is that it has gone well.”

He said the CCG will be putting in additional investment to keep the service stable through the winter.

Allied Healthcare also provided domiciliary care to more than 200 people in Northamptonshire through a contract with Northamptonshire county council.

The authority said it was working with the health provider to transfer staff over to other care companies so that service was not affected.

The county council awarded a four-year £95m contract to Allied Healthcare and five other providers in April this year.