National Paediatric Critical Care Audit Contract

This is a 3-year contract to deliver a national clinical audit of paediatric critical care services in NHS-funded settings across England, with a core budget of £2,832,765.70 (including VAT) and potential extension for up to 2 additional years. The audit will monitor and improve healthcare quality by benchmarking performance against national standards, detecting clinical variations, and supporting services to enhance patient outcomes. Key responsibilities include: continuing existing Level 3 paediatric critical care (PCC) and transport service audits; expanding to cover Level 2 PCC and ECMO services; developing methods to capture patient and carer experiences with psychological support insights; creating approaches to measure service organisation and staffing; and conducting one thematic focus area on selected topics such as adolescent access, transport refusals, transitions between care settings, length of stay variation, ventilator weaning practices, or vaccine-preventable disease. The successful supplier must engage clinicians, patients, carers, and stakeholders; provide timely, accessible reporting at multiple levels (trust, ICS, commissioner, MDT); maintain alignment with NICE guidance; ensure robust data methodology; and plan for potential data linkages with other national datasets. Bidders should outline their approach to patient/carer experience capture, staffing assessment methods, and selection of the thematic focus area, with development and detailed design to occur during the first contract year pending funder approval.