What Is The Future For NHS Procurement?

Many articles out in the public eye have highlighted;

‘NHS could save £5bn a year on workforce and supplies’

‘The health service spends more than £22bn every year on goods an d services which accounts for around 30% of the operating costs of each NHS organisation’

‘The NHS wastes £12bn on a computer system that ‘does not work’

‘Health service must go to reach its target of saving £22bn a year by 2020′

So what does the future hold for NHS procurement practices?

A report suggested the NHS has been slow to take advantage of its central buying power to drive down procurement costs and found it clear that in 2014-2015 hospitals went backwards rather than forwards in improving productivity, which makes the task of finding £22bn even harder.

Procurement processes in the NHS need to change and improve to deliver savings and quality services; with a focus of workflows and new ways of working, the NHS will be able to deliver significant changes that will bring larger efficiencies.

Contract management systems hold some of the key elements that can help the NHS build better procurement practices to get control of contracts data and their supply chain, as well as manage and ensure compliance is met while making savings to both money and valuable working hours.

Contract management systems are serving a variety of organisations in the private and public sector and should not be off limits to the NHS, especially when it is reported money continually goes to waste due to problematic internal computer systems and issues relating to legacy spreadsheets and archived documents stored filing cabinets.

Reports on spend, remaining budget, a contracts value and process, and KPI’s against the supply chain created by contract management systems will aid NHS procurement to have a full visibility on their contracts and purchasing activities. The functionality will ensure that decisions about resourcing are made on full visibility of the deciding factors to provide better value for money on chosen services and supplies, to eventually reach the target of saving large amounts of money in the years to come.

Contract management systems can provide NHS procurement departments with greater opportunities and benefits to finally move forward in improving productivity and the savings needed within the organisation. It is highlighted in the press that the sheer scale of past NHS mismanagement of private finance and of procurement has been staggering, however while NHS Trusts have a need for a robust contract management system in their procurement department, they cannot get hold of the budget needed and are forced to remain in their old ways of using unreliable systems that don’t meet requirements or updating excel spreadsheets.

We are currently working with a number of NHS Trusts to help their procurement departments get the control and compliance needed to make ultimate savings. Talk to us for more information on our Contract Management Systems.