Mental health specialist contracted to provide support to stressed NHS Highland employees during coronavirus outbreak
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In the wake of bullying allegations NHS Highland had been involved in a tender process to appoint specialist assistance to bolster its employee-support programme.
The major public health crisis has now forced it to short circuit that process, with psychological therapies provider Validium contracted for a period of one year without having to tender.
It comes as NHS Highland plans to hold its latest health board meeting today via video link.
Papers for the meeting stated: “As a result of the emerging Covid-19 situation, we have decided to secure the services of Validium, on a one-year basis initially, via a tender waiver process, so we can rapidly implement additional support for colleagues over this challenging period.
“We hope to have the service up and running in April, if not before.”
A spokeswoman for NHS Highland said: “We were planning to complete a full tender process for our employee assistance programme for a three-year period, but we feel it is critical to put this in place quickly to support our colleagues as the pressure of Covid-19 intensifies for them at home and at work.
“Therefore, we have used a tender waiver process to award Validium a one-year direct contract, and would plan to complete a full open tender process for a three-year contract at the end of this time.”
Further details of how the board is handling the bullying situation will also be discussed. A detailed report of its so-called healing process includes outlines of five compensation packages for victims, ranging from £500 to £95,000, adding this could increase.
