Making value sustainable

The healthcare supply chain has received a new prescription. Procurement is strategic, commercial approaches are key and sustainability is everything. As they move into a new era, NHE spoke to Mark Patterson, NHS Supply Chain’s development director, about delivering the right services for today’s NHS

For NHS Supply Chain, two words lie at the heart of its approach: sustainable value. Tasked with delivering more than £1 billion in savings to the NHS over the next 10 years, it’s the long view that counts. “The big picture is everything,” explains development director, Mark Patterson. “The NHS

is under increasing scrutiny and the pressure to achieve financial balance is huge. Yes, the supply chain has the potential to ease those pressures, but it has to be sustainable. We have to create long-term benefits for healthcare organisations.”

Potential

Delivering those benefits is a complex task. NHS Supply Chain aims to achieve its goals for the NHS by taking care of the procurement and supply of 500,000 products. But while the savings forecasts are no doubt impressive, how does this balance against the short-term budgeting cycles trusts have to grapple with on the ground?

Mark explains: “That’s where the real potential of this relationship lies. We’re an organisation managed by the NHS for the NHS, but with commercial backing. “We’re unique in the way we’re set up. We’re not tied to the same budgeting cycles, so we can take on the long-term investment required and deliver real, sustainable savings that give trusts the lower prices they need to meet their own targets.”

Strategy

But this is about much more than price. Mark feels the real key to delivering sustainable value lies in taking a strategic approach to NHS procurement, one that balances the range of complexities involved in the healthcare supply chain. “Healthcare procurement should be clearly and strategically aligned to both the economic and clinical needs of the frontline,” he says. “Cost per unit is only part of that. We need to consider clinical outcomes, efficiency of use and the impact on the health economy.”

Providing the resources to procure and supply on these terms is exactly why NHS Supply Chain was created. By becoming a central supply channel for some £3.7 billion worth of critical products and services, the business aims to help the NHS realise more of the opportunities that exist within its own supply chain.

Mark explains: “More than £2 billion of the money spent on product categories within our market is spent outside NHS Supply Chain, either directly from the suppliers or under local arrangements. This presents a big opportunity to generate savings through working together.”

Helping trusts take advantage of this opportunity is an essential role for NHS Supply Chain. The customer and supplier support services are designed to enable trusts to secure more value, while also ensuring clinical input on purchasing decisions. He says: “It’s about making our customers’ lives easier. NHS Supply Chain has the capacity to bring together clinicians and procurement experts, and can work with suppliers to negotiate the best contracts nationally. “By channelling their demand through us, trusts can get more of the right products at the right prices – enabling them to focus on patient care and cost-base management.”

Expertise

These words are already being put into practice. The next few months will see the first meetings of the NHS Supply Chain product councils – strategic bodies of clinicians and NHS procurement specialists brought together by NHS Supply Chain to shape national purchasing decisions. It’s an approach that cements NHS Supply Chain’s commitment to collaboration across the supply chain and echoes the integrated organisation’s own foundations.

Mark adds: “NHS Supply Chain was borne out of the realisation that by combining skills across the supply chain – from procurement to logistics – we can make a huge difference. Placing frontline staff at the heart of that process was simply the next logical step.

“At the end of the day, it’s about harnessing the widespread expertise that exists in the healthcare supply chain for the benefit of the whole system.” And for many working within the complexities of the NHS, that will be welcomed as a clear prescription for success.”

“It’s about making our customers’ lives easier. NHS Supply Chain has the capacity to bring together clinicians and procurement experts, and can work with suppliers to negotiate the best contracts nationally.”