NHS procurement

NHS Supply Chain to realise procurement potential in new ICS partnership

The health service is aiming to unlock the true potential of procurement through a new partnership in the North West of England between NHS Supply Chain and Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System.

The two organisations have together launched the Value Delivery Partnership Programme, which will help the ICS become more efficient, enabling it to invest more locally.

NHS Supply Chain is set to work in conjunction with Cheshire and Merseyside ICS’s Joint Forward Plan, while also plotting an accelerated roadmap of activity. A wide range of projects will be worked on to bring forth benefits like cutting costs within patient pathways, reducing bed days, and considering service offerings and developments from various NHS Supply Chain teams.

Partnership programme

The collaboration will support the Clinical Pathways Programme which is managed by the Cheshire and Merseyside Acute and Specialist Trust Provider Collaborative.

As part of the work through this programme, NHS Supply Chain will tackle unwanted variation and inequality in patient access, experience and outcomes in key specialties across the Cheshire and Merseyside ICS catchment area.

Fundamentally, the partnership will facilitate:

  • expanded product selection consideration;
  • new system-based product evaluation governance;
  • new system financial approvals processes;
  • new system-based approaches for category management;
  • renewed status quo of product/supplier selection; and
  • provision of products that are fit for purpose and evidence-based to promote best clinical practice whilst reducing the care pathway cost where possible.

Comment from Jodi Chapman, customer executive director at NHS Supply Chain

High level value and efficiency

“Collaborative procurement is at the heart of our partnership with Cheshire and Merseyside ICS,” said Jodi Chapman, NHS Supply Chain’s customer executive director. “Through effective collaboration and collective responsibility, we will demonstrate the value that excellent procurement can deliver.”

Sue Colbeck, chief procurement officer at Cheshire and Merseyside ICS, added: “The ICS has worked in partnership with NHS Supply Chain for several years to drive efficiencies and savings and has built a solid foundation in which to build on.

“This ICS Value Delivery Partnership will set a standard for embracing clinical leadership using evidence-based metrics to drive decision-making and highlight what can be achieved at scale, and I believe the ongoing and dynamic partnership will continue to deliver high levels of value and efficiency for not only the Cheshire and Merseyside system but the wider NHS.”

Chapman features in the latest edition of the National Health Executive digital magazine detailing how her organisation is making it easier for the NHS to put the patient first.

Image credit: iStock

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