Procurement shared services are essential to support healthcare
“ The challenge for the NHS was to try and return back to a business as usual footing ”
DAVID LAWSON CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER , GUY ’ S AND ST THOMAS ’ NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
deployment , the largest implementation of automated inventory management systems in Europe to leading major complex commercial initiatives . Procurement and supply chain is critical to the day-to-day running of healthcare services . In 2021 for example , the team led the re-procurement of Pathology Services across South East London , covering a patient population of two million , processing over 35 million tests per year , and with an annual spend of £ 135mn . The new 15-year contract worth £ 2bn involved a major service transformation with the consolidation of 70 % of test activity from four hospital sites into a new pathology hub together with the adoption of new digital systems .
Lawson commented that “ it would be difficult to imagine a more complex procurement .” He explains : “ You had an incumbent joint venture supplier that the two Trusts — Guy ’ s and St Thomas ’ and King ’ s College Hospital — part-owned under a joint venture structure , you had a major service transformation in terms of service consolidation , and you had a mission-critical service which touched almost every patient that interfaced with the local health system from GP Surgery to Acute Hospitals .”
74 May 2022