OVERVIEW

World-class procurement in the NHS is not a slogan; it is a necessity. Better procurement will save lives. High performing trusts will embrace it. The pressures on the NHS to secure much better value from the £20bn a year procurement spend by its hospital trusts are immense. A combination of joined-up procurement to maximise leverage and manage supply chains, with investment in much greater capability, should deliver some huge savings. Just a 5% improvement will save £1bn – equivalent to employing an extra 30,000 nurses. Alternatively, it could release resources to procure new, state-of-the-art equipment. The revised EU procurement directives will help the NHS to achieve these objectives and make it easier to take advantage of innovation.

The main elements of the new strategy have been apparent since the spring of 2012 and were part of 'NHS procurement: Raising our game', issued by the Department of Health. Hitherto, trust boards have not always understood the significance of first-class procurement in ensuring that the objectives of the trust are delivered. This will change and will become an important role for non-executive directors. Clinical and commercial skills must be integrated, and this will encourage the development of new relationships with industry. There should be a national and regional focus on this.

Practical changes include the development of a 'procurement dashboard', which links procurement firmly to NHS trusts and patient objectives, such as the number of times patient service is adversely impacted (e.g. a cancelled medical procedure) through a piece of equipment being unavailable due to a procurement failure. There will be a national benchmarking service and a focus on:

• Leadership development and talent management;
• Developing 'breakthrough' procurement and supply chain strategies; and
• Excellence in strategic sourcing, supply chain and risk management.

To achieve this, the number of qualified procurement professionals will increase from 600 to 3,000. There will also be a centre for procurement development, an academy to embed world-class procurement in the NHS, greater investment in systems and an eProcurement strategy.

Underpinning this must be a more structured approach to managing procurement – from a local to a national level. Duplication must be avoided. Risk must be taken out of vulnerable supply chains. Trusts will never be able to do everything themselves, so collaboration and the use of framework agreements that are being set up by various collaborative procurement organisations, such as NHS Supply Chain and NHS Shared Business Services, must become the norm.

Big benefits require radical change. Public Service Events' Embedding World Class Procurement in the NHS: better procurement, better value, better care conference will brief delegates about the changes, how they and the NHS trusts can engage with them, and the practical steps they will need to take.