#CommercialMatters: Aligning with the national commercial strategy achieves best results for you
Our latest #CommercialMatters blog post comes from our Procurement Director, Steve Sercombe, who heads up a team of procurement experts who together have decades of experience working in procurement roles both within the NHS and commercial sectors. Steve talks about why we have always sought to align ourselves with national commercial strategies and the benefits this brings.
“We are a collaborative organisation – it’s in our name – and that means it’s really important for us to work together with others, to do the best for the NHS organisations we work with, and to align ourselves with national commercial strategies, such as the ‘Strategic Framework for NHS Commercial’ which has been developed by NHS England’s Central Commercial Function.
“Part of our strength is the relationships we have within the NHS and its associated networks. It means we’re not working in isolation. We are not working for commercial gain – the reason we are here is to benefit the wider health service. We know that to do that well, we have to work with our wider network. We have always proactively wanted to play a role in that, and we have been keen to be involved from an early stage.
“Historically, it’s been quite a complicated procurement landscape within the NHS, but we have an opportunity to do something better by working together and make it less fragmented. We have worked hard to try to build relationships with other parties who have got the same sort of values and ethos as ourselves.
“By doing this, we can co-ordinate and enhance the delivery of NHS procurement, reduce duplication, leverage our collective buying power and specialise in the areas where we can add most value.
Supporting Professional Development
“We have played a role in national procurement forums, and have supported the development of the profession in the NHS by working with the Health Care Supply Association (HCSA), of which our Managing Director Keith Rowley is now Chief Officer. We also have two members on the national council, both of whom have done a great deal of work for the HCSA – Jo Barton, Senior Category Manager in our HR & People category (North West), and Caroline Brash, our Head of Training, Events & New Business (Yorkshire & the Humber). The HCSA is all about bringing the procurement profession together across the NHS, developing people and expertise, understanding where we have common challenges, and where we can work together to build understanding and improve things collectively.
Accreditations
“We have been supportive of NHS England introducing an accreditation process for frameworks and framework providers. There’s duplication in the system today and we recognise there’s an opportunity to do things more efficiently. By introducing these framework accreditations, we are creating a minimum standard for the quality of our frameworks, and that can only be a good thing for our healthcare service.
“It’s important we have consistency and that we offer quality assurance. You know that if you're using an accredited framework from an accredited provider, you've got total assurance over the minimum standards. You will know that those frameworks are based on NHS Terms and Conditions, they are managed in a certain way and include the necessary provisions around sustainability and social value in line with national policy.
“We also leverage our buying power by having a smaller number of frameworks in any one category over time, and that’s a positive thing as it secures the best commercial outcome for the NHS.
Working in collaboration
“Making sure that the system as a whole is pulling in the same direction, adopting best practice and working in a consistent way is important.
“Increasingly there is a focus on harmonising ways of working and where possible adopting common systems. The adoption of the Atamis Health Family Single eCommercial System is a really good example of what can be achieved – we used to have a lot of fragmentation and a lot of different systems being used for tendering and contract management. There’s a lot of advantages to adopting a single system. It’s more cost effective, but also offers considerable efficiencies in terms of system set up, support, staff training and future development to meet the specific needs of the NHS. It is also really helpful in terms of supporting the transfer of people and best practice around the system. It also has considerable benefits both for our external suppliers who increasingly have the benefit of a much more consistent and common experience when they are participating in competitive tendering processes and dealing with NHS procurement teams.
Meeting national, regional and local needs into the future
“Going forward, we will want to continue to align ourselves with the national procurement agenda, but we will also need to make sure we are closely aligned with ICSs and local NHS Trusts, to ensure we are supporting the regional and local needs of the areas in which we work. We will continue to maximise the public benefit in terms of local economic benefits, how we engage with & support SMEs, and how we support wider health and social value objectives to make sure the procurement we are undertaking positively impacts the communities in which we work. This means we will need to continue to adapt and change, and we will need to evolve how we operate to ensure we continue to support that complex landscape and the changing needs of the NHS.”
For more information about how we align with the national commercial strategy, and our framework portfolio, please contact our Support Desk.