About Procurement Services
Procurement Services is part of the NHS Shared Services organisation, which is hosted by Velindre NHS Trust. It has been brought together as one organisation from the former Welsh Health Supplies and the Procurement and Accounts Payable teams that were in place across NHS Wales. It provides a complete Procurement to Payments system for all of the Health Boards and Trusts across Wales.
The key focus and support to customers is through the local Procurement teams who work with the respective organisations to drive the strategic agenda. The local teams work alongside the Sourcing, Supply Chain and Accounts Payable teams who provide support to the wider P2P activity. This effectively provides a "one stop shop" for customers and suppliers as we work with "one voice" across Wales and very much support the collaborative agenda. The development of a single sourcing plan has taken some time to develop but now provides a focus for our contracting activity going forward.
The Supply Chain service operates out of three main sites Bridgend and Newport in South Wales and Denbigh in North Wales. This is further supplemented through a number of Hospital stores and receipt and distribution sites across Wales. In addition Procurement Services supports the Welsh Government Emergency Planning Department.
The Accounts Payable function operates on a number of sites across Wales and we currently have a drive to remove all of the paper invoices from the system.
An e-Enablement team has also been created which has a number of key roles in support of the Procurement function and this includes support to front end staff for the Oracle system as well as providing a focus on supplier adoption for our electronic invoicing initiative. We have a requirement that all suppliers working with NHS Wales are capable of trading fully electronically and this team is in place to support this work. The focus on customers is underpinned through our Quality systems with the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) as the model which supports the work that we are doing and the systems that are already in place and which are being rolled out across Procurement Services.
Procurement Services have developed a business plan which supports the wider agenda and has a number of key strategic themes. The delivery of a significant saving on the non pay budget has been identified and reflects the needs of Health Boards and Trusts as well as the opportunities from the wider collaborative plans. The impact on the Supply Chain is also a key focus with "end to end" service part of what is being developed. The focus on the customer remains a key objective and this transcends all levels of Procurement Services, and the development of the "customer voice" in the plans has been an important step forward. The modernisation of the Accounts Payable function is another important development which will also require a review of the current operating practices as well as the number of locations currently occupied across Wales.
As part of the Shared Services organisation the Procurement Services has the benefit of the wider corporate support including in key areas of Finance and HR. The development of the IT strategy across the organisation is another critical area for all of the businesses and this is now being developed.