Demand Management

NHS Supply Chain is carefully managing the supply of key consumables, working closely with NHS England (NHSE). Ensuring that all NHS trusts have equal access to key consumables required to provide patient care remains a top priority.

Demand management may be utilised by NHS Supply Chain when a product is subject to short supply or ‘allocation’ to allow NHS trusts continued access to critical products until normal supply can be restored.

The purpose of Demand Management is to maintain continuity of supply of critical products to the NHS where normal supply is disrupted, meaning NHS demand will be greater than the available stock.  Demand Management aims to ensure that stock remains available and is shared fairly, albeit it in reduced quantities, across the NHS during the period of disrupted supply. Two levels of demand management can be used to facilitate this; ‘Control’ and ‘Protect’.

See our Downloads ▼ section to access the Control and Protect Demand Managed Products Matrix for further information on the affected products codes.

A set of three process flows have been created to give clarity to NHS partners of what to do when they either cannot order a product (delisted or BAU suspension or Control Demand Managed), or they have not received their desired quantities (partial order). By following these process flows we aim to reduce unnecessary escalations and enhance the first-time fix rate and enhance efficiency for all NHS partners.

See our Downloads ▼ section to access the Unavailable Products Process Flows PDF.

‘Control‘ Demand Management allows full control of the allocation of patient-critical products to the NHS where stock/supplies are severely restricted.  Products placed onto Control are typically specialist products with very low stocks and where there are no available alternatives. In such circumstances, products are suspended from normal ordering to protect available stock for critical requirements.

Products subject to Control Demand Management will have this message appear on our online catalogue:
‘Product is suspended due to limited supply requiring demand allocation’.

Currently, there are a number of products in Control Demand Management across a number of categories. Please see our Downloads ▼ section to access the ‘Control and Protect Demand Managed Products Matrix’ for further information.

If you have an urgent clinical need for any of the products placed on to Control Demand Management, you need to complete and submit the Control Suspended Consumables Product Submission Webform.  See our Useful Links section to access this web form. Further guidance on completing this form and what happens after submission are below.

Products which are placed onto ‘Protect‘ status for Demand Management remain available to order through NHS Supply Chain. However, trusts are allocated a maximum daily quantity also known as ‘threshold’ to ensure fair supply of available stock across the NHS.

The daily threshold quantity is calculated using an NHSE algorithm. Should a trust exceed its threshold, either via a single requisition point or across multiple requisition points, then relevant orders will be amended down.

The thresholds are subject to change as they are updated daily depending on the current demand and supply position so quantities provided to customers will change in line with this.

Customers are notified by email, the day before the delivery date, of all orders amended as a result of demand management.

Currently, there are a number of products in Protect Demand Management across a number of categories. See our Downloads ▼ section to access the Control and Protect Demand Managed Products Matrix for further information.

To support any measures customers may have put in place for each demand intervention we will also update a list of products that have been removed from Protect threshold intervention – see ‘NPCs Removed From Protect Product Listing’.

See our Useful Links section to access the Control Suspended Consumables Product Submission Webform.

• Quantity requested – Quantities should only be requested if there is an urgent clinical need. The quantity should reflect the need for 1 week.
• Clinical rationale for quantity requested – Please define the specific urgent clinical need based on the current patient profile. For example, “We have x number of patients on ventilation who are now on day y, so will require a tracheostomy in the next z days”. The rationale should provide as much information as possible about the requirement to meet patient need and when it will be needed. Statements such as ‘Urgent need’ or ‘Needed for ICU patients’ do not provide sufficient clinical rationale to support the allocation of consumables.
• First and second alternatives – Wherever possible identify alternatives as this increases the likelihood of meeting the requested quantities.
• Requisition point – Submit your request through one requisition point. This enables requests to be considered in aggregate.

NHS Supply Chain reviews submissions and will then confirm to the requester:

• Which orders have been denied.
• Which orders will be raised and to what volume they will be raised (as the requested amount may be amended down).
• Provide the rationale where requests cannot be fulfilled.

NHS Supply Chain Customer Services team receives orders to be raised and will then:

• Raise the order.
• Notify the customer of the delivery date.
• Inform the relevant NHS Supply Chain Customer Relationship Manager.
• The cycle will be day 1 ordering for day 3 delivery, however, this is dependent on supply route and lead time of the product.

Following notification of the submission outcome, if you have an immediate clinical emergency, please escalate via icurequirement@supplychain.nhs.uk for review.

Special picks for 5 hour delivery and next day delivery, are available emergency options.