New NHS contract to centralise delivery services

The Department of Health and Social Care has signed a five-year contract with Unipart Logistics worth £730 million to simplify the NHS goods-buying process.

As part of the new NHS Supply Chain, the government expects the agreement to generate savings of £2.4 billion over the length of the contract, which will start in early 2019.

Unipart’s responsibilities will include: delivering medical devices and hospital consumables to NHS trusts; warehousing; inventory management; and order processing and delivery.

Until recently, NHS trusts in England could negotiate their own contracts for products such as bandages, gloves and surgical equipment, meaning that neighbouring hospitals have often paid different prices for products from the same supplier. A home delivery service will make up around 10 per cent of the contract, which will allow some patients to receive supplies and be cared for in their own home.

Health Minister Steve Barclay said: “Our long-term plan will see billions of pounds invested into the NHS, but we have to make sure that every penny of this is spent as wisely and effectively as possible. A modern health service shouldn’t involve 234 separate trusts spending time and money negotiating different contracts and prices for the same thing. That’s why our work to centralise how the NHS buys goods and services is crucial. By streamlining the process and freeing trusts up from having to do this, we will save staff valuable time, save huge amounts of money and be able to reinvest the savings into patient care and frontline services.”