Ambitious Targets Build on Success
Based in Inverness and covering an area north of a line from Fort William in the west to Nairn in the east, the board comprises two health trusts, Highland Acute and Highland Primary Care which meet the health needs of a population of over 210,000. With a non-pay expenditure of over £30m, procurement of a wide range of goods services and equipment is a mix of centralised purchasing storage and contracting, with ordering activities devolved as appropriate to specialist departments such as Catering, Pharmacy, Estates and Laboratories.
With this in mind a supplies strategy was developed which outlined a new approach to procurement. The strategy recognises the benefits of automating paper based processes whilst allowing departments the flexibility to continue ordering items and services, directly from suppliers.
The eProcurement Scotl@nd service (ePS) provides the tools and support to enable the implementation of the new strategy.
Phase One of ePS Implementation The Catering Department in Raigmore Hospital went live in May 2002 and since then £350,000 (53% of the departure's expenditure) has been undertaken through ePS. This achieved a strategic objective for catering to reduce a lengthy and time consuming paper chase, allowing staff more time for additional value added activities.
Crawford Howatt, Catering Manager for Highland Acute Hospitals Trusts commented, "I'm very pleased with how smoothly 'go-live' has gone and already can see how the service will make our life easier in catering. The three click order really will work for us and we have used it today."
A project team was set up to prioritise roll-out and organise training. Roll out extended to administrative staff to order stationery from our single source supplier Lyreco, and in February 2003 a first for the NHS, use of ePS in a clinical area, Operating Theatres at Raigmore Hospital. ePS is also used for internal stores requests. This represents a significant success for NHS Highland, NHS Scotland and the Scottish Executive. By using ePS, clinical staff time can be freed up from the paperwork work and bureaucracy associated with ordering goods and services and channelled into patient care.
John Aldridge, Director of Performance Management and Finance, Scottish Executive Health Department commented, "I wish to offer my congratulations on NHS Highland becoming the first NHS organisation to place live transactions through the eProcurement Scotl@and service."
NHS Scotland Perspective
NHS Highland is not alone in early adoption of ePS for the NHS. NHS Tayside are following on from the pioneering work in NHS Highland as is the Scottish Ambulance Service. These organisations, along with Scottish Healthcare Supplies, are working together to identify strategic commodities where savings can be made using eProcurement. This has reinforced the strong working relationships which have developed within the supplies community in NHS Scotland.
A common approach to improving procurement in the NHS by using ePS is being developed to ensure:
- A common solution design for implementation of eProcurement Scotl@nd for NHS Scotland
- A national strategy for Procurement and Supplies Management to maximise the benefits from eProcurement Scotl@nd.
Next Phase for NHS Highland
Building on their successes, ambitious targets for the roll out of ePS across NHS Highland are being set. The roll out programme is being extended to a further six operating theatres covering £1m of expenditure and engaging up to 90 suppliers.
In parallel with this, NHS Highland are preparing a generic roll out platform for a range of other clinical and support services where they have identified operational financial or service benefits from eProcurement. These include not only departments in the Acute hospital sector such as laboratories, medical physics and X-Ray but Health Centres/Clinics, Community Nurse Bases and GP Surgeries.
NHS Highland serves a wide geographical area with a mainly rural population where transport and communications can be difficult and many health professionals work single handed in remote locations. Electronic systems are seen as an important tool in improving clinical communications and thus improving patient care and in providing remote paperless ordering systems for staff. ePS does this in NHS Highland and reduces lead times from ordering to delivery of all the items nurses and doctors in remote locations need to deliver modern healthcare.
An Ambitious Agenda for Change
Using ePS along with successful change management as a means to improve purchasing performance and reduce order processing will generate savings. In the next five years, NHS Highland aims to have all of its 'purchase-to-pay' activities carried out online using ePS. An ambitious but achievable target and an important one, if a greater proportion of NHS expenditure is to be spent on direct patient care rather than support services.
NHS Highlands also aims to refocus supplies services away from the operational and paper chasing activities to more value-added supplier development and supply chain management. ePS has already been a catalyst for change allowing reorganisation of Operating Theatre ordering systems. Through strategic sourcing, supplies staff made savings of £180,000 during the last financial year.
The technology is relatively simple and easy to implement and as with most new systems, the challenge was the management of change both in terms of internal processes and recruiting suppliers, many of whom are only just starting on the eProcurement path.
Suppliers
NHS Highland's first transaction was with Wiseman Dairies. Since then NHS Highland has started trading via ePS with a further 37 suppliers. This has involved NHS Highland in direct talks with suppliers on a local basis and assisted by SHS with national suppliers.
Internal Customer's Viewpoint
Daily users of the system are Gladys Beattie and Willie Mackenzie, Assistant Catering Services Managers at Raigmore Hospital, both of whom have commented on the benefits to them in their work.
- "The system is very quick at producing orders and sending to suppliers."
- "Less paper work especially when the finance interface is implemented."
- "Past orders are easy to check back on for information."
- "Excellent, when doing recurring orders each week."
- "Very user friendly and easy to use."
More information . . .
To obtain further information relating to this article on NHS Highland and implementation of the eProcurement Scotl@nd Service please contact:
Gordon Tait, Procurement and Supplies Manager, NHS Highland
If you would like further general information on the ePS service or would like to receive future eProcurement Scotl@nd Service newsletters, please contact:
eProcurement Scotl@nd Service Desk