Ireland - Health and social work services - Provision of 21 Post Acute Rehabilitation Beds with Mowlam Healthcare

The objective of this Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency (VEAT) notice is to inform the marketplace of HSE West and North West’s intention to enter into a contract for the provision of 21 Post Acute Rehabilitation Beds with Mowlam Healthcare. The said 21 Post Acute Rehabilitation Beds are to be provided at Ballinasloe Care Centre, Bridge Street, Ballinasloe, County Galway, being part of Mowlam Healthcare, in accordance with Article 32.2b, i.e the works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator for reason ii competition is absent for technical reasons. The information available to the HSE indicates that Ballinasloe Care Centre is the only suitable facility with the infrastructure, resources and spare capacity at this time to deliver the urgent services required. The current model of care where patients admitted through emergency departments (ED’s) can experience an extended length of stay as their required destination, suitable for their post-acute care, is absent due to a severe bed capacity issue in Galway City and the surrounding 30 kilometre radius. This creates an absence of a suitable planned egress pathway thereby paralysing bed flow in Galway University Hospital (GUH) and access for other patients who require acute admission. It is also evident that acute hospitals, by their very nature, are not the appropriate environment to provide rehab or to ensure the best outcome for the patient and thereby preventing avoidable future re-admissions to ED’s. Many older adults require ongoing medical, nursing and rehabilitative care following a hospital admission as a key element of a fully functioning Urgent and Emergency Care Pathway, with an estimated 12% of >75’s requiring post-acute rehabilitation in the community. An absence of appropriate egress options for older people post-acute care has a direct knock on effect on Delayed Transfers of Care and also on admission rates to long term care. An analysis of the average length of stay in long-term residential care in the Community Healthcare West catchment area shows an average length of stay of approximately 3 years and 9 months compared to a national average of approximately 3 years. This is directly related to lack of timely rehab following acute illness to facilitate a return home. Currently the model is weeks of step down/convalescence with no access to rehab where an older person becomes even more deconditioned and as a result transitions to Long Term Care. A recent exercise carried out by the HSE that included a weighted prioritisation exercise (informed by UEC Multi-Annual Demand Profiles, DTOC, Trolleygar and other datasets) and other practical considerations indicated that Galway University Hospitals would require (at minimum) an additional 125 post-acute care and rehabilitation beds. The proposal is to immediately commission 21 Post Acute Rehabilitation Beds at Ballinasloe Care Centre, Bridge Street, Ballinasloe Co. Galway, which is located 60 km from GUH. This proposal will free up acute beds in GUH during 2026. This is an interim arrangement pending a full procurement process to be completed during 2026.