How to apply for a complex care tender
Complex care covers high-need clinical packages at home, such as ventilation, tracheostomy, PEG feeding and spinal injury support, often funded through NHS Continuing Healthcare. Bids are won on clinical competence, not price. ICBs and councils score your nursing oversight, competency frameworks, training records and ability to staff packages safely. You usually apply through an NHS or council portal. Weak clinical evidence and thin staffing plans are the main reasons bids lose.
What commissioners score on complex care
Complex care is clinically risky, so commissioners weight clinical governance heavily. They want named clinical leads, a registered nurse oversight model, and competency sign-off for tasks like ventilation, suctioning, bowel care and medication via enteral routes. You must show how carers are trained and assessed against a clear competency framework, who supervises them, and how you handle escalation out of hours. Delegated healthcare tasks need a clear clinical accountability chain back to a registered professional. Continuity matters too. ICBs fear package failure, so evidence your recruitment, retention and contingency staffing for single-handed and double-handed packages.
CHC funding and the application route
Many complex packages are funded through NHS Continuing Healthcare, so bids often run through NHS portals like Atamis, or through joint health and council frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems. Read the specification to see whether it is a framework, a DPS or a single package call-off. Price is rarely the deciding factor. Commissioners pay for safe delivery, so a credible cost model that funds proper nursing oversight beats a cut-price bid that looks unsafe. We check your fit before you pay. The free eligibility check tells you whether your clinical model, nursing cover and CQC registration match the specification, so you do not spend on a bid you cannot deliver.
Not sure if you qualify for a tender? We check it for free, before you pay anything, and we only take bids we believe you can win. See our continuing healthcare tender writing or text TENDER to get started.
Common questions
Do I need to be a nursing agency to win complex care contracts?
Not always. Some packages are delivered by care workers carrying out delegated healthcare tasks under registered nurse oversight. Others require employed registered nurses. The specification sets the model, so check whether nursing supervision must be in-house or can be commissioned.
What is CHC funded complex care?
NHS Continuing Healthcare funds care for people with a primary health need. Complex care packages funded this way are commissioned by the ICB rather than the council, which changes the portal you bid through and the clinical evidence expected.
Why do complex care bids usually lose?
The common reasons are thin clinical governance, no competency framework for delegated tasks, weak out-of-hours escalation, and staffing plans that look unsafe for double-handed packages. We check these in the free eligibility review before you commit.
Keep reading
Service
Continuing healthcare tender writing
CHC homecare framework application
Minimum turnover requirements
Atamis NHS portal
Browse all care tender guides, or see care tender writing by service.
Got a tender to check?
Text TENDER to +44 7822 001898and we'll tell you free whether you'd qualify, before you spend a penny.