Out of Hours, Urgent or Emergency Deliveries

We recognise that occasionally situations occur when you may need clinical products in a hurry.

We aim to provide deliveries to your trust wherever possible, in relation to ‘urgent’ requests (where products are required outside the standard 48 hour delivery cycle) and ’emergency’ requests (those related to major incidents and/or medical emergencies).

In the event that you require a product urgently for a scheduled same or next day delivery, a special pick can be arranged. As special picks are more costly to process and deliver, these should be kept to a minimum. In the event that a request is made without a valid reason i.e. it is not directly related to patient care, then an additional charge of £35 may be levied in addition to any courier costs incurred. See our Useful Links 🔗 section to contact your Customer Services team at the earliest opportunity with the reason for the request. They will inform you if your request can be accommodated and what charges, if any, will be applied.

These are 48 hour deliveries requested outside of your normal preferred delivery date. These are more costly to process and deliver and you may be charged for the delivery dependent upon the route. See our Useful Links 🔗 section to contact your Customer Services team in the first instance stating a reason for your request.

NHS Supply Chain has a proven emergency service that is available to NHS trusts 365 days per year, 24 hours per day and is committed to delivery of a stocked product within five hours of any emergency request being received. For products that are not stocked within our distribution centre network such as Blue Diamond or eDirect products, then we will endeavour to obtain stock for delivery within the shortest time possible.

If the emergency occurs within working hours (Monday – Friday) 8am to 5pm then you simply contact your normal Customer Services Advisor. See our Useful Links 🔗 section for details of our Customer Services Advisors.

For emergencies that occur outside of working hours, please contact your supplying distribution centre using the telephone numbers listed below. Please note: Before using any of the supplying distribution centre emergency numbers listed, please check which depot you are serviced from.

See our Downloads ▼ section for more information on our out of hours, urgent and emergency deliveries.