Management


How to ensure you choose a trusted supplier


Edward James, workstream lead, Estates, Facilities and Professional Services Workstream, NHS London Procurement Partnership, explains how care home providers can ensure they secure the highest quality services at the best prices


NHS London Procurement Partnership (LPP) is not your typical NHS


organisation. It is a team of procurement experts that was founded in 2006 and is funded and governed by its members – NHS organisations from London and beyond. Its purpose is to work in collaboration with its members to make the most of the purchasing power of the NHS to maximise investment in patient care. It helps the NHS to deliver the highest quality services, while at the same time ensuring value for money. Since 2006, its members have saved the NHS more than £1 billion. How this is achieved is primarily decided in accordance with EU rules. The NHS spends about £20 bn per year on non-salary expenditure, which includes everything from medical equipment to maintaining premises. When new requirements are identified for any public sector organisation, it is obliged to follow a formal procurement process under EU legislation. Tender opportunities are advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) and it is only by responding to a contract notice in the OJEU that businesses can tender to become a supplier. Any government- funded organisation is obliged to follow this process for the purposes of procurement compliance. A private sector organisation, or any non- government funded body, interested in best practice procurement would benefit from adopting a similar approach. Estates, facilities and professional services include maintenance services directly related to the building (for example, heating, maintenance and building repairs), day to day services that keep buildings running (for example, waste disposal, catering, cleaning and security), transport services (including patient transport and couriers) and professional services (from legal advisors to architects and surveyors).


26


The challenges


As care home managers and suppliers will recognise, when it comes to the delivery and quality of estates management, working with local contractors can dramatically speed things up. Care home buildings are often small, and of course they house elderly and vulnerable individuals who require a clean and well maintained environment. Working with the right supplier is crucial to ensure not just that the fabric of the building is maintained but also that those using the buildings can continue to do so safely and without fear if things go wrong. Therefore, selecting the right supplier should not just depend on cost but on the quality of the work undertaken and the speed of the response to requests to undertake the work. LPP has been working with its NHS members to better understand how to use procurement to meet these challenges. Often this is delivered through working with local suppliers who have


a vested interest in care facilities in their local area. You may find that either they or someone they know relies on the facilities and they are therefore keen to ensure that they are well maintained and serviced. Local suppliers can also react more quickly when issues arise. An issue in a room can lead to that room being taken out of action, which not only causes inconvenience to the occupier, but can also mean that the building manager has to find alternative accommodation for them and can lead to lost revenue. Local suppliers can react quickly to ensure that rooms are back in use as quickly as possible.


Identifying local suppliers that you can trust can be difficult and requires an investment in terms of both the time it takes to find them in the first place and then to follow up references. LPP has developed the dynamic purchasing system (DPS) to enable organisations to access a list of trusted suppliers, view their


www.thecarehomeenvironment.com • January 2018


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48