Business partnership awards for three North West Coast trusts

The Countess of Chester Hospital, Liverpool Women’s Hospital and The Walton Centre have been named as winners at this year’s NHS in the North Excellence in Supply Awards.

The awards recognise the work of businesses, third sector bodies and the NHS in working together to provide great patient care. They are organised by NHS North West Procurement Development and Northern Customer Board, which helps NHS organisations to procure for value as well as best standards of care.

The Awards were sponsored by the Innovation Agency; Health Innovation Manchester; and Yorkshire and Humber Academic Health Science Network.

The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust received the Award for Procurement Innovation, Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust received the Supplier Engagement Award, and Helen Oulton of The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust was named NHS Procurement Champion.

The Countess of Chester Hospital launched an initiative which led to improved staffing levels and reduced waiting times for patients. It involves a new national framework agreement that facilitates maximisation of in-house capacity so that NHS organisations using it can reduce or eliminate the need for additional mobile facilities and expensive outsourcing. Commonly known as “insourcing” the framework allows a legally compliant route for the NHS to access expertise without the need to create separate tender processes.

One NHS Trust using this framework was able to increase theatre capacity so that the trust could perform operations on an extra 100 patients per month and engage more than 250 nurses, physiotherapists, surgeons, anaesthetists, healthcare assistants and administrative staff in out-of-hours activity. This led to a 30 per cent reduction in the number of patients waiting for appointments; a 10 per cent improvement in referral times to treatment; and a 95 per cent increase in patient satisfaction.

Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust commissioned Lexmark to provide a fully managed print service and suite of printers and photocopiers in order to streamline operational efficiencies, control costs, promote sustainability and support their digital transformation roadmap. The result is a projected cost saving of more than 30 per cent over the life of the contract.

A strong relationship between the trust and the supplier was central to the success of the project.

Helen Oulton is the Lead Nurse for Infection Control at The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool. Helen is involved with any changes to products which may have an impact on preventing and managing infections, acting as a link between the Procurement department and the Infection Control team.

As a result of the work, The Walton Centre has been commended by NHS England for surpassing the national target of ten per cent reductions in e-coli infections. By working with Procurement to trial and implement a wide range of products including patient wipes, clean trace swabs and staff disposable gowns,  Helen’s work has also helped to limit the incidence of clostridium difficile and Carbapenemase Producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE).

Chair of NHS North West Procurement Development Steering Board and Chief Executive of event sponsors the Innovation Agency, Dr Liz Mear said: “The collaborations with external partners showcased by the awards are having a huge impact in improving patient care and on achieving better value and efficiency. Huge congratulations to all the winners and very worthy finalists.”

Other Award Winners included:

• Baxter Healthcare, Stockport – Value Based Procurement Award

• Healthcare Communications, Macclesfield & Leeds – Acute Sector Award

• Lime Music for Health, Manchester – Patient Experience Award

• Richard Robinson, York Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – NHS Procurement Rising Star

• Malinko Software, Manchester – Supplier of the Year

• PS5 Limited, Manchester - Mental Health/Community Sector Award

• Radiology Management Solutions, Manchester – Small Business Award

• SF Taylor, Stockport– Sustainable Development Award

• Urgo Medical, Loughborough – Support Services Award

• Zilico Limited, Manchester – Clinical Innovation Award
   

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Photo caption: from left, Kevin Hickman of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), Andrew O’Connor, Sophie Robinson and Ian Bailiff of The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.