Regional Collaborations

Don't just take our word for it that we can save you time and money with our framework solutions. 

Below are a few examples of our success stories across regions.

Regional Collaborations

NHS organisations and councils within England are taking a shared responsibility to improve the health and care system for their population. NHS Commercial Solutions have been supporting STPs and emerging Integrated Care Systems in the following projects:

Clinical and Non-Clincial Waste Within Sussex 

Previously in 2015 and 2016, NHS Commercial Solutions delivered three waste management tenders with significant cost and efficiency savings for Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, and East Kent Waste Management Consortium (consisting of six NHS Trusts).

With the view of continuous improvement on this particular category, NHSCS explored the waste management requirements of its member trusts. This exercise revealed the opportunity to secure cost and efficiency savings for a number of trusts in Surrey and Sussex. The findings were reported to Surrey and Sussex STP board with the proposal of setting up a framework agreement that would be accessible by the NHS trusts in the region.

NHS Commercial Solutions engaged with the trust representatives to scope out the project, expected volume, specification, spend for the framework agreement and its duration. The group identified 6 waste streams and these were divided into lots under the framework:

  • Clinical Waste Services
  • General and Recycling Waste Services
  • Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment ('WEEE')
  • Offensive Waste
  • Confidential Waste Services
  • Hazardous Waste Service

NHSCS believes there is a real opportunity for trusts to come together and reduce duplication, as well as benefit from cost savings.

NHSCS has conducted waste management procurements across the NHS, delivering over £590k in annual cash releasing savings, in the past 3 years.  Savings in these three contracts were between 10% to 30%.

Linen and Laundry within Sussex 

NHS Commercial Solutions supported two trusts within Sussex to procure one linen and laundry service across multiple sites - this covered linen rental, collection, wash and return.

To begin this process, NHSCS extensively engaged with the trust stakeholders to construct a specification that accurately defined the current service requirements, along with a defined evaluation criteria. NHS Commercial Solutions then ran a mini-competition on behalf the two trusts under the Crown Commercial Solutions framework for Laundry and Linen Services (RM1031).

Due to the limited number of suppliers in the market, the main focus of the trusts is to secure a compliant service, and potentially limit any cost increases. The other prime objectives for running this project include providing increased service efficiency and patient experience, as well as establishing a compliant contract and putting it in place. 

Additionally, savings were achieved through the volume aggregation across two trusts, and also due to reduced transportation where the trusts are sharing a single site. A single supplier covering a shared site also means a reduced carbon footprint, and assures the trusts' commitment to working towards engaging environmentally-sustainable solutions.

If you would like to discuss the project examples above in further depth, or any other collaborative opportunity, please contact us.