New appointments to NHS Customer Board for Procurement and Supply

New Chairs appointed to London and South Customer Boards

NHS Supply Chain is pleased to announce that Lucie Jaggar, Chief Procurement Officer, Barts Health NHS Trust has been appointed as Chair of the London Customer Board for Procurement and Supply and that Alex Gild, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer, Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, will be the new Chair of the South Customer Board.

Lucie and Alex will be joining the national NHS Customer Board for Procurement and Supply chaired by Sir Ian Carruthers OBE on the 30 September 2020 and will be representing their respective memberships of London and Southern NHS trusts at these meetings.

The NHS Customer Board for Procurement and Supply aims to influence and lead procurement strategy by engaging with the senior stakeholders who understand the challenges faced by the NHS.  The Board has a particular focus on the new NHS Supply Chain operating model.  Sir Ian Carruthers OBE is the chair of the National Board which oversees four regional boards, North, Midlands, South and London. 

In addition, David Main, Director of Procurement, St George’s Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is appointed as Deputy Chair of the London Customer Board. 

David Main said: “’As an active member of the London customer board over the last year, I believe this can be a really valuable forum and I am delighted to be appointed as Deputy Chair supporting Lucie Jaggar in shaping this. I want to use this opportunity to help to improve and support the current model and shape the future strategy of procurement in the NHS, working in partnership with my colleagues in NHS Supply Chain.’’

Lucie Jaggar said: “I’m delighted to be asked to chair the London Customer Board and want to say thank you to Colin for his hard work and contribution for the past four years. NHS Supply Chain is a key pillar of our NHS Procurement landscape and I’m excited to be working alongside them to deliver a best in class organisation with the customer at its heart”

Alex Gild said: “Customer boards have an important role to play in supporting NHS Supply Chain customers in achieving best possible value for our patients. The south region customer board is a well engaged group, representing procurement and customer expertise across our NHS provider sectors and health systems. My priorities for the customer board are to build on the collaborative opportunities the new NHS Supply chain model presents, and to drive for system efficiency gain and great customer service to front-line care delivery.”

Sir Ian said: “I would like to thank our outgoing chairs of the London and South Customer Boards, Colin Gentile and Nick Gerrard for their dedication and hard work and bringing their expertise to inform the Board’s discussions on procurement and supply over the years.  It’s crucial that NHS procurements collaborates and works together and that all national programmes are aligned to ensure that NHS organisations are able to provide the best patient care.”

Jim Spittle Chair of the SCCL Board said: “I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to Colin and Nick for their dedication and contribution during their time on the National Customer Board for Procurement and Supply. I would also like to welcome both Lucie and Alex on to the Board, their insights and experiences will be invaluable in shaping the NHS’s procurement strategy.”

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About the NHS Customer Board for Procurement and Supply

All information in this press release is correct at the time of going to press.

About NHS Supply Chain’s role in the Covid-19 response

• The Government has set up new PPE Dedicated Supply Channel which is a parallel supply chain to the normal NHS Supply Chain service. It has been set up by Government to meet the urgent volume requirements for core personal protective equipment (PPE) items, allowing NHS Supply Chain to focus on ensuring the supply of medical devices and clinical consumables to our NHS.

• The Government has set up a dedicated unit to focus on securing supplies of PPE led by the government’s commercial function. This unit is identifying PPE suppliers from across the globe to meet the increasing demand for a growing list of PPE products.  NHS Supply Chain’s PPE buying teams have been seconded to the unit which is led by the government.

• NHS Supply Chain has expanded its operations to support the stand up of seven NHS Nightingale Hospitals set up across the UK, including NHS Nightingale London, Birmingham, North West (Manchester), Yorkshire and the Humber (Harrogate), Bristol, North East (Washington) and Exeter. Equipment and consumables supplied include ventilators, patient monitors and CT scanners.

About NHS Supply Chain

NHS Supply Chain manages the sourcing, delivery and supply of healthcare products, services and food for NHS trusts and healthcare organisations across England and Wales.

Managing more than 4.5 million orders per year, across 94,000 order points and 15,000 locations, NHS Supply Chain systems consolidate orders from over 800 suppliers, saving trusts time and money and removing duplication of overlapping contracts. 

Lord Carter’s report into efficiency and productivity in the NHS, published in 2015, identified unwarranted variation in procurement across the NHS, resulting in the need to improve operational efficiencies to transform a fragmented procurement landscape. To undertake this transformation the Department of Health and Social Care established the Procurement Transformation Programme (PTP) to deliver a new NHS Supply Chain.

The new NHS Supply Chain was designed to help the NHS deliver clinically assured, quality products at the best value, through a range of specialist buying functions. Its aim is to leverage the buying power of the NHS to negotiate the best deals from suppliers and deliver savings of £2.4 billion back into NHS frontline services by the end of the financial year 2022/23.

The new model consists of eleven specialist buying functions, known as Category Towers, delivering clinical consumables, capital medical equipment and non-medical products such as food and office solutions. Three enabling services for logistics, supporting technology and transactional services underpin the model.

Key benefits the new NHS Supply Chain will bring NHS trusts and suppliers include:

NHS Trusts

• Savings channelled back to frontline services
• Releasing more time for core clinical activities
• Greater NHS clinical involvement in purchasing decision
• More effective introduction of new products.

Suppliers

• Lowering sales and marketing costs
• Single route into the national market
• A joined-up approach across the NHS
• Clear route for innovative products.

On 1 April 2018, a new commercially astute management function called Supply Chain Coordination Limited (SCCL) went ‘live’. A limited company, wholly owned by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, SCCL is part of the NHS family. The management function is responsible for driving commercial objectives, managing the category towers and enabling services whilst overseeing continuous improvement.