Hospital scoops top Award
Hospital scoops top European Supplies Award
The procurement department at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has beaten several major FTSE 100 companies to win the coveted Public Sector, Services & Utilities Award at the prestigious European Supply Chain Excellence Awards.
Chris Slater, Head of Supplies and Graham Medwell, e-Business Manager, received the top award from television journalist Jonathan Dimbleby at the packed awards ceremony held in the ballroom of the Grosvenor House Hotel in London’s Park Lane.
The Trust picked up the award for its demand-driven solution to ensuring that the right surgical product is delivered at the right place at the right time. In the words of one judge: “this approach is absolutely sector changing”. Launched four years ago, it was designed to revitalise the Trust's procurement process to give it greater control, cut paperwork and release nursing time for clinical care by automating and putting the processes online.
The Department of Health featured the Leeds case study in its recent ‘coding for success’ paper which highlighted the patient safety and financial benefits of e-Enablement technology. The Trust has taken an active role in the National e-Enablement strategy and has adopted the use of national data standards within its supply chain systems.
Central to the system is accuracy of data which utilises the NHS e-Enablement standards (GS1, Dun & Bradstreet and e-class coding) through the Due North e-Sourcing tool and GHX Nexus catalogue and data management module. Pioneering work with major suppliers such as Covidien and Johnson & Johnson has resulted in 100% accuracy of all catalogues in use at the Trust.
Inventory control using both standard shelving and Omnicell electronic cabinets for storage has achieved major savings in stock holdings of over £2m. The GHX PowerGate Inventory Management System which records product consumption by patient has been fully integrated into the Trust’s Oracle e-Business suite. Electronic orders continually flow from the Oracle system through the GHX Exchange to Leeds supplier community who then send electronic invoices, making the whole supply chain paperless.
The development and subsequent use of RFID technology through partnership with Sybase, GS1, GHX and Depuy has proved to be innovative for controlling Orthopaedic kits. This is now a solution available to other NHS Trusts.
Chris Slater, Head of Supplies at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, said: "The hospital is in the middle of an unprecedented transformation of its supply chain with clinicians, suppliers, business managers, GS1, GHX and other technology providers playing major roles the project.
“The award provides validation and confirmation that the initiatives we are undertaking have delivered genuine benefit to patients and clinical teams by releasing nursing time, streamlining processes and reducing unnecessary waste. Congratulations are in order for all those who have worked on the project and have now made it an award winning success."
Left to right: Theo de Pencier, Chief Executive, Freight Transport Association, Graham Medwell, e-Business Manager, Cath Craddock, Senior Category Manager, Chris Slater, Head of Supplies and Jonathan Dimbleby.