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Trocar Project Saved £97,000 for Trusts in Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership

30 June 2021

Infographic showing savings made during the year

The opportunity for achieving savings by working together as a group instead of as individual trusts was highlighted to us by NHS Supply Chain, which also provided the savings data we needed to clearly demonstrate this. As a result, without changing trocar supplier we have been able to save valuable resources.”

Ann Shaw,
Deputy Head of Procurement, Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Overview

The Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership is the Sustainability Transformation Partnership (STP) in the North West of England serving a population of around 2.6 million people.

It is a group of organisations, including NHS providers and commissioners, Local Authorities, GPs, the community and voluntary sector, who are responsible for providing health and care services in Cheshire and Merseyside.

The partnership plans how to best deliver high quality and affordable health and care services that meet the needs of local people. It is made up of 12 Clinical Commissioning Groups, nine local authorities and 19 NHS providers.

NHS Supply Chain has regular meetings with the partnership’s theatres group, made up of consultants and senior leaders from the partnership’s nine hospital trusts.

The Challenge

The STP wanted to maximise savings on trocars, which are used in laparoscopic surgery, for all nine trusts without the need to switch supplier.

Some of the trusts in the STP were already purchasing trocars through NHS Supply Chain and some trusts were purchasing direct from the supplier.

This meant working with each of the nine trusts individually, and as a group, to maximise savings while making the process as seamless and efficient as possible for everyone involved.

Trocar image

The Solution

The NHS Supply Chain Customer Relationship Managers and Category Manager presented the opportunity to the partnership’s theatres group, made up of consultants and senior leaders – highlighting the potential savings by working as an STP rather than buying direct from the supplier as individual trusts.

Savings data was provided to the trusts to clearly demonstrate the value of switching to the NHS Supply Chain route.

The Process

Vicky Korytko and Beth Hey, NHS Supply Chain Customer Relationship Managers, worked closely with the nine trusts to support them with the National Pricing Matrices (NPM) sign up process and communicated timelines for pricing set up.

Some of the trusts were already purchasing through NHS Supply Chain and some were buying direct from the supplier. By agreeing to work together and buy through NHS Supply Chain, resulted in benefits for them all. Using our relationship with the supplier, the trusts were offered an exclusive pricing deal, with those trusts in the partnership who were already using NHS Supply Chain also able to access the new discounted pricing.

Beth Hey,
Customer Relationship Manager

The process was relatively simple in identifying that there was an opportunity for further savings through collaboration; requesting the analysis; presenting and clarifying with the trusts the data and arranging for the NPM paperwork to be signed and returned. We have good relationships with all trusts in the STP so were able to do this effectively.

Vicky Korytko,
Customer Relationship Manager

The Results

Working in partnership with NHS Supply Chain gave access to a beneficial pricing band. A simple switch to the NHS Supply Chain route, without change of supplier, resulted in £97,000 annual savings for the trusts in 2019/20.  

Key Achievements:

  • The partnership has collectively saved £97,000 after coming together to purchase trocars through NHS Supply Chain using the STP band of National Pricing Matrices via our Minimally Invasive Surgery framework.
  • During the process, additional savings for individual trusts were identified and some of these are looking to proceed with switching suppliers.
  • Using our relationship with the supplier, the trusts were offered an exclusive pricing deal to move onto the NHS Supply Chain route. Those trusts in the partnership who were already using NHS Supply Chain were also able to access the new pricing.

If a group of trusts are working together, they are all eligible for the same savings. It’s a quick win for trusts, especially those already using the same supplier. In addition, working with NHS Supply Chain gives them an opportunity to explore further savings.

Seb Spencer,
Category Manager for NHS Supply Chain: Sterile Intervention and Associated Consumables.

Next Steps

  • If you would like to know if your trust can benefit from similar savings, contact our Hospital Care Team.
  • The new framework is expected to go live on 8 November 2021. See our Useful Links section for information about the Minimally Invasive Surgery framework.