ONE of the country’s largest community-based healthcare contracts, valued at £237 million, has been awarded to a Colchester-based community health provider.

North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has chosen Anglian Community Enterprise (ACE) to run its care Closer to Home service.

One of the service’s aims is to reduce hospital admissions by helping people with long-term conditions to be supported in being more independent in their homes.

Lynne Woodcock, ACE managing director, said: “Care Closer to Home is integral to improving community health services by making a whole range of services available as close to people’s homes as possible. We know people would like their healthcare services to be more joined up and accessible and we will be working closely with local GPs, Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, Social Care, the voluntary sector and other key partners to deliver a more seamless service.

“ACE is an experienced community healthcare provider, recognised at national level for the high quality of care our staff provide. We feel privileged to have been offered this exciting opportunity.”

The voluntary sector will play an increasing and key role in Care Closer to Home.

Mrs Woodcock added: “With the resident population of north east Essex expected to rise by 13 per cent between 2012-21, we need voluntary and community groups to help us keep those with long term conditions, and the elderly, out of hospital when they don’t need to be there, and living a better quality of life.

“This is why local voluntary and community organisations will be playing a bigger role in supporting people to stay well in north east Essex. As part of Care Closer to Home, ACE is investing more than £230,000 in local voluntary groups to deliver the non-clinical elements of community health services over the next seven years. This is good news because it is invariably voluntary and community groups who help to join up gaps in health and care services and support people at critical moments in their lives.”

Sam Hepplewhite, Chief Officer at the North East Essex CCG, said: "In the past, health and social care has sometimes been commissioned around the needs of the service, rather than the needs of people. This has led to people receiving fragmented care, delivered by many different professionals. Through Care Closer to Home, local people will receive joined up services based around their individual needs. We believe that we can better support our service users to look after their own health and to enable them to live as independently as possible through this way which is why Care Closer to Home is so important.”

ACE is employee-owned with more than 1,100 staff and has an annual income of approximately £56million. As a social enterprise, ACE invests any surpluses at the end of the year into service development and its local communities.