BUPA Physiotherapy Tender Process

[Mr Manipulator]

Oh dear. This is sounding rather 'clubby' vis a vis the London based practitioners. Where does that leave the rest of us, North of the Watford Gap?

After all, only 25 votes on the 'who did and who didn't poll' on this site is hardly a substantive reflection, unlike the one on 'The Physios Voice', which basically shows a one third/two third split in favour of not tendering.

How this all will reflect across the Country remains to be seen, as does how BUPA will react, but I am beginning to sense that those contributing here are mostly 'inner City' and, as such, not a reasonable representation of Country wide opinion.

[hockeyphys]

Oh dear. This is sounding rather 'clubby' vis a vis the London based practitioners. Where does that leave the rest of us, North of the Watford Gap?

After all, only 25 votes on the 'who did and who didn't poll' on this site is hardly a substantive reflection, unlike the one on 'The Physios Voice', which basically shows a one third/two third split in favour of not tendering.

How this all will reflect across the Country remains to be seen, as does how BUPA will react, but I am beginning to sense that those contributing here are mostly 'inner City' and, as such, not a reasonable representation of Country wide opinion.

Looking back on the individual posts again, I don't think this is so- it's predomiantly South yes, but a high distribution from around the country. -However the most vociforous posts are the London ones. It also seems that the London clinics had little to loose (Unless they were seriously overcharging!) as BUPA seemed to quote a fair rate for them - it was the 'rest of the country' rates that were a pittance
However, I think it does show a division between the 'big business' polyclinics, who are trying to corner the market, and those running, single,(large and small) clinics or working on thier own, and are happy to work alongside their competitors in the area. ( I may be wrong on that- it's just a feeling.) THe fact that BUPA had an 'if you have more than 10 clinics contact us directly' clause in the tender makes me feel that they did invite such clinics to discuss terms outside these tender restrictions.
I would hate to think that we may have been manipulated by this process, but it's starting to feel a bit like that - it will become obvious to all after May 15th what actually happened!
I would hope that when this has settled we would all continue to meet as local groups and all work towards the same aim of high quality treatments at a reasonable cost, but in meeting face to face so we can tell who's behaving honestly and who's not.
We should also lobby the CSP and PF more to act a better on our behalf - as a neutral party they are in the best position to do this - but this whole incident shows that they only start to act when pushed - I guess this means reading and responding more to what's in the journals (but sometimes it's sooo hard to get the plastic cover off!)
I know PF are very disapointed in the lack of feedback for the data collection survey ( which if collated would give us much more power to our elbow) - but to do it is a very longwinded and time consuming process that many of us don't have time for - has anyone gone back to them to see if it can be made easier?

[physiobob]

It's interesting to look at the results of the PhysioFirst survey.

http://www.surveymonkey.com

Looks from those results that a lot of people who responded were people who did fill out the tender process, at least in part. This should not be taken as actually filing an official tender as we know of many who did it and did not expect to get a result as they asked for what we are worth.

I suppose the results are a bit off in a few respects, or at least one should consider them in relation to:

This is a sub group who bothered to take part in both the tender and the survey. (That said it is a good number)

The London numbers responding to this survey are low. The results on the (also perhaps biased) Physio Forum and Physiosvoice showed similarly that about 80% of London based physios did NOT tender.

The split in the tender fee was about 50:50 for those who tendered at the BUPA suggested fee and those that tendered above. This is rather interesting as the fees are perhaps OK for people outside of the main cities. So the large number who tendered above the suggested fee actually suggests that the BUPA fee is not enough no matter where you are and therefore a London and Non-London pricing structure might not have been a sufficient differential.

48% more respondants indicated that set their fees for treatment above the BUPA benchmark. (35% at BUPA price vs 52.7% above BUPA suggested price)

More than half did not agree to their 2.5% increase after 2 yrs.

As you can see one should be careful in interpreting the simple display of these results.

The stats also does not include non-members of physiofirst who work in the private practice sector who might have been asked to tender.

[hockeyphys]

Interesting stats - different bias from the physio voice polls.
Having difficulty accessing this pol to regiter my response - how do you do it?
Seems to me that the demographic of who tendered does not register where the 'non tender' group are based, as if you didn't tender, you go straight to 'done'
As such I presume this is not a true reflective pole.
However, it is disapointing to see the proportion who tendered at or below the BUPA benchmark, and affectivly capitulated. Those voices have been very quiet on thsese sites - seems to me that there have been 2 voices - don't tender, or tender at your normal fees - seems that there's a whole group out there doing something else who should feel ashamed of themselves.

[physiobob]

Seems to me that the demographic of who tendered does not register where the 'non tender' group are based, as if you didn't tender, you go straight to 'done'
As such I presume this is not a true reflective pole.

Good point. PhysioFirst really should make some comment when they present some stats. Without that stats are likely to be misread.

[edgertonman]

Well we all wait with baited breath for the outcome (audited?) of the big issue. Just as a small thought we were told at the start of all this exercise that Bupa intended to ask 6000 of the 13000 physios on their books to tender .Have I missed something ? who are the non tendering physios . Are Bupa waiting to see if they have enough physios to provide a Liddle type service or have they quietly already reinstated those they wish to use ?
Any thoughts?

[physiobob]

Saw this on the BUPA website today. Interesting. Seems they are trying to get enough from their existing relationships. Then if that doesn't hold they'll open it up further down the chain. The chain I believe that for the past 4-5 years they have felt not sufficiently qualified to treat their clients. Seems when there's a need and a financial incentive any physio is OK to treat their clients. Maybe this is a question the OFT should be asking them of their 5yr+ minimum requirement.

We have decided to put on hold the recognition of new physiotherapists during this period but we will be able to get back to you after 1 October 2009 to update you on possible changes to the recognition process.

[physiosteo]

I tendered at a price above my normal price.
Just received this email from Bupa:

“As part of the second phase of implementation we will be contacting additional providers, including yourself, who we feel are able to enhance the network for the benefit of our members. We would like to better understand your current position and discuss your application further”

I guess that's a "no" for now, then?!

[hockeyphys]

Could you add the link so that all can see the whole BUPA quote (this site won't allow me to do that.)
Seems that we won't know tomorrow if we are 'in or out'
I presume that BUPA will now start to contact those of us who have tenderered at our full rates and try to get us to drop them.
We must stand firm on our quotes - we all put a lot of effort and thought into deciding what was right for us and our profession.
(Interesting that their site is down for'maintenance' all this weekend!)

[physiosteo]

no link, it was an email but i am happy to quote the whole thing:

I am writing further to your application for the Bupa UKM Approved Physiotherapy Network.

The response from physiotherapists was

extremely pleasing

and we received a total of 3,400 bids from clinics and or practices.

We have decided to phase the implementation of the network over the next few weeks, with the first phase starting on Friday 15 May covering an initial 3000 clinics and practices. We will be writing to all those clinics and practices that have been successful in gaining a place on the new Bupa approved network in readiness for the first phase of the launch.

As part of the second phase of implementation we will be contacting additional providers, including yourself, who we feel are able to enhance the network for the benefit of our members. We would like to better understand your current position and discuss your application further.

During the roll-out of the network, we are keen to ensure that our members still continue to receive a high level of service and care. Therefore, all recognised physiotherapists will continue to be eligible to treat their Bupa patients until we begin to formally suspend those providers with whom we have not reached a suitable agreement. Should you be unsuccessful, we will agree a period of time to ensure any ongoing treatment of Bupa members is completed to ensure continuity of care.

We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the feedback we have received to date from providers. We believe that by phasing the implementation of the full network, it will allow further valuable discussions to take place to the benefit of our members by increasing patient choice.

We will be communicating with you in the next few weeks to provide an update on the full launch of the network. Should you have any queries or require more information, please do not hesitate to call us on 0845 600 4078 or email [email protected].

With kind regards

Jane Gallagher
Commissioning Manager

[londonphysio]

Looks like they will definitely have their network, then. I hope that those who tendered below will not have been hedging their bets on an increase of referrals!
I am very nervous now, i have to confess. No access to my work email until the morning.
No BUPA for me means end of business.
Good luck everyone

[hockeyphys]

Don't neccessearily think that or panic! If you look through the whole thread of what was posted on thier BUPA site, (That is the thread I can't attach to this blog) I think it implys that they havn't got enough 'cheap' reponses to support their network.
The timing of Osteophysios reponse shows that JG has thrown out a blanket reponse after most closing hours - I'm sure many of us will wake up in the morning and see the same response - so hold on in there - this isn't finished yet!

[scottish physio]

Oh dear. This is sounding rather 'clubby' vis a vis the London based practitioners. Where does that leave the rest of us, North of the Watford Gap?

After all, only 25 votes on the 'who did and who didn't poll' on this site is hardly a substantive reflection, unlike the one on 'The Physios Voice', which basically shows a one third/two third split in favour of not tendering.

How this all will reflect across the Country remains to be seen, as does how BUPA will react, but I am beginning to sense that those contributing here are mostly 'inner City' and, as such, not a reasonable representation of Country wide opinion.

It is very difficult to gauge what went on in Scotland.
I didn't tender and know of one other practice that didn't. I know of 2 sole practitioners who did. I'm on a course next week and will maybe hear more there.
I agree that it's gone very quiet but I guess it is a waiting game and only time will tell how many physios took part in the process.
I think most of us have had a big wake up call and need to get ourselves more organised and find a stronger voice for physios in private practice. I actually feel very depressed by Physiofirst and CSP. In my darker moments I was wondering if I could possibly re name myself a Rehabilitation Therapist. In this way I save myself 2 lots of annual fees and scores of paper work. I can just get on with the job of being a good therapist which is all I really want to be.