The complexities of NHS procurement

Procurement within the NHS occurs in a highly demanding and complex environment. Balancing the demands of the suppliers and customers who, in the case of the NHS are the clinicians, requires diplomacy and highly primed negotiation skills. This is combined with the strict public procurement regulations that NHS buyers have to operate under.

The NHS is the government’s biggest area of expenditure, costing around £100 bn each year to run. Therefore getting the right deal in the health service is vital to the government, and critical to achieving CSR 07 efficiency targets.

The recent Audit Commission report found that overall NHS finances have improved, achieving an expected surplus by the end of the financial year. But they also stated that almost a third of health service organisations remain in a poor financial position. The audit commission directed the NHS to urgently focus on managing the minority of NHS bodies that are failing to meet financial targets.

In order to achieve those financial efficiencies and generate significant savings opportunities, NHS organisations need to develop their procurement transformation programme. Spikes Cavell is supporting procurement professionals within the NHS by providing tools and expertise for performing spend analysis, the monitoring of operational performance and sourcing.

Additionally, our exclusive access to the world's leading artificial intelligence (AI) based classification engine enables us to provide the full line item analysis or UNSPSC product classification required to underpin strategic sourcing.

To find out how Spikes Cavell's solutions can help your NHS organisation achieve their procurement transformation objectives contact us for more information