The global healthcare supply platform GHX has announced the launch of a new feature to its successful electronic catalogue management tool Nexus as part of its drive to help the NHS improve efficiencies in purchasing.
The new GHX Nexus feature allows hospitals to pre-approve contractually agreed price changes into product orders. This saves staff time in updating catalogue prices and makes the ordering process more efficient by dramatically reducing the number of orders that are queried. The feature is designed to address a common cause of delays to the payment process: many hospitals have complex contracts with suppliers that include specific price reductions on different products and this can lead to confusion over the correct price to use. As the Government unveils plans to help NHS organisations manage supply purchasing as effectively as possible, GHX continues to work with its NHS partners to make the process more efficient. The new addition to Nexus is an important aspect of this work.
The National Audit Office recently stated in its report ‘The procurement of consumables by NHS acute and Foundation trusts’, that purchasing in the NHS is very fragmented, with trusts paying widely different amounts for the same items. The report estimated that at least £500m a year could be saved through more efficient procurement practices. As part of its Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS White Paper, the Department of Health is looking towards technology – including the use of effective catalogue management - to help address this problem and achieve vital savings for the Health Service.
Mario Varela, Director of Procurement & eCommerce at Barts and The London NHS Trust, said “ An effective purchasing operation is key to the smooth running of health services at our hospitals and, as the NHS faces new challenges in 2011, this has become more important than ever. If we have confidence that our pricing data is up to date and accurate we can run a highly efficient and cost effective service and allow staff to focus time and resources on providing good patient care.”
Jason Hale, Managing Director for GHX UK said, “We are very pleased to launch this new feature which will help bring efficiencies to the price transition process. GHX has long had an ethos of innovation and we work closely with our NHS customers to improve efficiencies in the purchasing process, save hospitals money and allow staff to focus on delivering valuable healthcare.”
