Optalis secure contract extension

Optalis has been officially notified that their three year contract with Wokingham Borough Council is to be extended by a further two years until June 2015. The company will continue to run the full suite of the council’s adult social care services, including residential care, homecare, reablement, day centres, support with employment, as well as care brokerage.

Optalis has been successfully operating these services since its formation in June 2011. Over this time the company has maintained and improved the quality of services provided, whilst simultaneously delivering tangible efficiency savings to the Council by reducing operating costs and overheads.

Stuart Rowbotham, Strategic Director Health and Wellbeing at Wokingham Borough Council, said: “Optalis has been entrusted to deliver some of the Council’s most vital and sensitive adult social care services with a clear message to work in partnership with the council to provide good quality safe social care to our residents. During the first two years of the contract, Optalis has demonstrated its commitment to partnership working by both improving the quality of those services and actively contributing to the challenges of managing a constrained social care budget.

“Optalis has also risen to the challenge of ‘provider of last resort’ by taking on four local care homes that were in serious difficulties, and has turned each of them around so that they now have a safer future. For these reasons it was without hesitation I recommended that the contract be extended.”

Andrew Pickup, Managing Director at Optalis, said: “I am delighted on behalf of all of the staff here at Optalis that our major client, Wokingham Borough Council, has opted to extend our contract until June 2016. This represents a significant vote of confidence in Optalis’ ability to provide quality adult social care services.

“As one of the first local authority trading companies in the country providing sensitive adult social care services, this is a major milestone and begins to ‘prove concept’ for this innovative approach to service delivery.”