A taste of success

NHS Supply Chain: Food and the Devon Procurement Service (DPS) are toasting their recent move to a new sandwich range and supplier, which stands to deliver over £130,000 of savings and a number of other benefits including working with a local small to medium sized enterprise (SME) supplier and boosting the Trust’s green credentials.

You may decide you want to make a similar switch after reading this – contact your local food account manager or our business development manager today. See our Useful Links section for their details.

Dan Fleming, Business Development Manager, and Megan Wilkins, Category Buyer, from NHS Supply Chain: Food, in collaboration with the Devon Procurement Service and Capita, recognised an opportunity to bring together the purchasing of their sandwich provision for staff, visitors and patients, which would deliver significant benefits for trusts across the south west region.

The four trusts in the ICS (University Hospitals Plymouth, Royal Devon University Healthcare, Torbay and South Devon, and Devon Partnership) were all buying different sandwiches of various specifications.

We worked with the DPS to consolidate the purchasing of the sandwich patient product range, bringing all three trusts onto the same specification sandwich range. This lent itself to driving savings for them all and made things more streamlined and efficient for them, looking at economies of scale as the volume of these particular sandwich lines increased.

Megan Wilkins, Category Buyer, NHS Supply Chain: Food

It was imperative that the specification put forward on the consolidated product line was both aligned with this aim but also met the nutritional recommendations of the British Dietetic Association’s (BDA) Nutrition and Hydration Digest third Edition. The BDA’s Nutrition and Hydration Digest is an important resource to hospital catering, providing expert knowledge and support in the provision of food and drink services in healthcare. NHS Supply Chain: Food Lead Dietician Idrees Anwar was brought in to the project, to work alongside the ICS’s inhouse Dietetic Team, to ensure this need was met.

New ground was broken as we engaged in a partnership with Capita Procurement Services, who were instructed to act on behalf of the DPS.

Together they directly engaged with senior trust stakeholders weekly and provided a platform for NHS Supply Chain: Food to present savings opportunities. NHS Supply Chain: Food began looking at the patient and retail sandwich provision with Capita and trust’s stakeholders, in November 2024. This built key stakeholder relationships to help bring about change and savings for the NHS within these trusts.

Served alongside hot lunch and dinner options, the sandwiches provide a lighter, nourishing option to or patients. The Devon-wide Dietetic teamwere concerned that by offering a saving the nutritional value of the sandwiches would be compromised. They wanted to ensure that patients continued to get a nourishing meal, in line with the BDA’s guidelines. 

Not only did we ensure that the offering suggested was in line with the guidance, but it was then further consolidated to ensure it fit with the three individual trusts requirements.

Idrees Anwar, Lead Dietitian, NHS Supply Chain

Idrees worked with Dan to devise a blind sampling process for the trust’s Dietetic teams. It was integral to bring them along the journey and ensure that a suitable and effective solution was provided for the best patient outcomes, whilst securing a saving.

The Dietetic Team were presented the products and were told to assess them purely based on the quality of the sandwich first. They were then presented with the benefits for utilising the suggested new product, the sustainability impact and the benefits of using a local provider for the community and local economy. Finally, they were presented with how the new sandwich offering would fit in line with their requirements nutritionally, with an in-depth analysis and comparison to their current provision. The sign off from the Dietetics within One Devon was important in this process, and they were very pleased with the detail and results the NHS Supply Chain: Food team had found.

A large number of the Devon trusts had not previously engaged with NHS Supply Chain: Food and initially expressed hesitation and uncertainty about the potential outcomes of such a collaboration. Through consistent effort and clear communication, Dan successfully demonstrated the value and benefits this partnership could bring to their hospital sites. He effectively addressed and overcame the team’s initial reservations, paving the way for a strong and productive working relationship.

NHS Supply Chain: Food looked at added value extras for the Devon trusts, as part of their deal. Point of Sale material (POS) is now being discussed for them to use at their sites and on loan equipment. The team also negotiated with the supplier to provide a spend rebate, meaning if the trusts in the Devon Integrated Care System (ICS) purchased over a certain threshold they would see a return at the end of the year for example.

The team worked on the sustainability aspects of awarding the business to a regional supplier. Tamar Fresh was the nominated supplier by NHS Supply Chain: Food for this new sandwich range, a supplier the trusts already had a great relationship with as well as a passion for their products. Tamar are a family business and SME with over 35 years’ experience of supplying the industry, and providing jobs to local people in the South West. They held a long term relationship with supplying NHS trusts in the region, and were keen to work with NHS Supply Chain: Food on this project, in order to meet the trusts needs and help them achieve great savings. Megan Wilkins was able to provide assurances to the Devon trusts on each of Tamar Fresh’s options in relation to sustainability and value for money.

Contracts were put in place from May 2025. Now, looking forwards, there will be future work being done with the Devon trusts and DPS, as Dan now continues on with phases two, three and four of this project, moving into looking at their purchasing on NHS Supply Chain: Food’s Fresh Food and Multi Temperature Food Solutions frameworks.

Royal Cornwall and Livewell Southwest, a CIC (a community interest company, are now interested to move forwards with a similar solution. What’s being worked on now for One Devon is Fresh Food, so we’ll be excited to talk more about this soon.

Dan Fleming, Business Development Manager, NHS Supply Chain: Food

NHS Supply Chain: Food has fast become the trusted advisors of the Devon Procurement Service. Matt Pumphrey, Procurement Senior Category Manager from University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust said:

From the initial concept of bringing together the catering spend, NHS Supply Chain: Food have been our go-to partner.

They have worked alongside the trust to onboard the suppliers onto their frameworks and Dynamic Purchasing Systems. Their support has been second the none and instrumental in delivering considerable savings, whilst retaining supplier engagement and support. The team were key in our collaboration and sign-off from the wider organisations.

Moving forward, the Devon Procurement Service is looking to review its ongoing spend in fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as in milk and dairy, then move onto its approach to ambient food. With the support and commitment already received, the Devon ICA will be looking once more to enlist support from our trusted partner NHS Supply Chain: Food.

Matt Pumphrey, Procurement Senior Category Manager, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust

After reading this article, you may decide this swap is for you, a simple process that we can support you with. Please reach out to your local food account manager or view our category page to see more of what’s on offer.