Nicola Hall, managing director at Ingenica Solutions, calls for Government investment in placing a GS1 specialist in every Trust –instead of allocating funding for just a small number of sites.
As previously reported in The Clinical Services Journal, six NHS GS1 demonstrator sites, from a final shortlist of 12 hopefuls, have won a share of £12 million investment to implement the full GS1 and e-procurement strategy. These sites are expected to deliver up to £800 million in efficiency savings within a two-year time frame.
As part of the Government’s eProcurement Strategy, these shortlisted Trusts will pilot the use of GS1 and PEPPOL standards. The idea is that they will demonstrate the level of efficiencies, cost savings, and improved patient safety that can be secured through adoption of the standards; to showcase the benefits of the GS1 strategy to the rest of the NHS, and provide an invaluable insight into the challenges and opportunities for other Trusts.
Also, as part of meeting the efficiency challenge, NHS procurement champion Lord Carter previously announced in his report that the NHS could improve efficiency and patient care by adopting best practice, managing resources better and working collaboratively. Lord Carter acknowledges that few Trusts are able to demonstrate a basic level of inventory control or visibility; something that the commercial sector has successfully achieved for years. Lord Carter’s ambitions of having all products catalogued and price comparability can be achieved by implementing the core of enabler of inventory management and making supply
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