NHS Supply Chain wins at Logistics Awards

NHS Supply Chain is delighted to have won the Editor’s Choice award at the recent Logistics Awards held in Birmingham. The award was received for work undertaken by the Procurement Transformation Programme (PTP), who were commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care, to replace the previous NHS Supply Chain contract.

At the start of 2019 the PTP had designed and implemented the new operating model for NHS Supply Chain to transform the NHS procurement landscape. With NHS needs and objectives at its heart, the model provides consistent product pricing and increasing product range optimisation across the NHS, increasing value for money and providing more consistency in both clinical and patient experience.

“We are very proud to have won this prestigious award which is testimony to the work we have undertaken on one of the largest transformation programmes in government,” said Jin Sahota, CEO of NHS Supply Chain.

“The new operating model was set up to help drive out unwarranted variation and deliver value and savings of £2.4 billion back into frontline services and patient care, while simultaneously establishing the NHS as one of the most effective and powerful procurement entities in Europe.”

Chris Holmes, Director of Supply Chain said: “We are delighted to have been recognised for the work we have done, and are doing, to transform the NHS procurement landscape. We look forward to the next stage in our journey.”

The PTP, procured and embedded a new operating model consisting of 11 new specialist category tower service providers, two enabling service providers for logistics and supporting technology – overseen by a commercially astute management function, Supply Chain Coordination Limited, a government-owned limited company. The new management function alone has a scale comparable to that of a FTSE 250 business, with over £2.2 billion worth of services and assets.

This is not the first time the PTP has been recognised for their contribution to the transformation of the NHS procurement landscape. Earlier this year the team won ‘Best Commercial Project’ at the Government Commercial Function Awards.

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About NHS Supply Chain

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

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.