The Shelford Group is the largest collaboration of hospitals in the NHS, consisting of 10 leading multi-specialty academic healthcare organisations employing over 100k people and with a turnover of over £10bn. It was formed in 2011 to share practice in patient care, clinical research and education, and to represent the NHS and engage with key stakeholders. Shelford Group trusts are facing an unprecedented level of financial pressure. At the same time, demand for their services is increasing and the challenge of doing more with less has never been greater.
We were engaged by the Shelford Group to explore how to optimise the group’s collective buying power and clinical reputation from its combined annual spend of £3bn, to deliver a step change reduction in third party spend and drive wider total cost efficiencies.
INSIGHT
We brought extensive Healthcare and cross-sector experience to deliver this programme and proven proprietary methodologies including our 7 Step Clinically-Led Category Sourcing Methodology and Opportunity Assessment Approach.
ACTION
Our consultants undertook a detailed spend analysis and opportunity assessment, requiring an innovative and pragmatic approach to the many challenges associated with handling and analysing this volume of data and information – £3bn of spend, 650k Purchase Orders and 6.5m invoices.
We developed a 5-year sourcing plan and sourcing methodology for the group including a detailed long-term savings forecast. We also completed a detailed assessment of organisational capability, best practice and peer review across the Shelford Group.
Our consultants provided a central Project Management Office and training and delivery support.
RESULTS
We identified, developed and supported the delivery of strategies for 28 high priority clinical categories with a goal of delivering net savings of at least £192m over five years through third party spend related efficiencies including sourcing, procurement and supply chain.
These strategies ensured that the Shelford Group always has access to the best price and is well positioned to drive clinically- led standardisation and other innovations such as patient pathway optimisation. Furthermore, the opportunity assessment helped extend procurement influence beyond its traditional scope into temporary staffing, capital, estates and facilities, integrated supply chain and pharmacy.
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