Introduction
The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (NHS PASA) is a national agency established by the Department of Health to work with NHS hospitals/trusts in England to promote good practice in the purchasing of the wide range of goods and services required.
NHS PASA has various teams of people working in many diverse areas of procurement from gas and electricity to surgical instruments, pharmaceuticals to food, and well beyond.
Recently the Agency has been working with PINNT to review the market for: The provision of nutrition supply services including feeds, pumps consumables and a home delivery service (enteral feeds and supplementary feeds). A summary of the work can be found in issue 22 of the October PS news, page 12, see link below.
Why PINNT?
A national advisory group was established chaired by NHS PASA, and a range of stakeholders were invited to input into the meeting in order that a formal document could be produced giving guidance to individual trusts wishing to embark on a formal tendering exercise for this type of service and product. It became very clear that patients rely very heavily on this service and therefore their views were of paramount importance – hence NHS PASA getting in touch with PINNT.
If you would like to view the document that was finally produced please click on the link below which details the size and scope of the market plus an overview of how to ensure best value for money against an appropriate specification can be achieved without conceding any aspect of quality or service.
What can a patient/carer do?
NHS PASA the Department of Health and the National Advisory Group advocate patients becoming involved when their local trust(s) begin to consider going out to market test the existing service. Patients could play a vital role as an existing service user and this should not be particularly onerous. If patients are interested it may be worth approaching their trust dietician to determine if a local stakeholder group has been established. It may then be appropriate for patients to attend one or two meetings to describe the benefits and value of the existing service, and detail any improvements or modifications that could be considered. At these meetings patients would be able to hear about the market and the exacting process that has to be gone through in order to ensure a contract is awarded efficiently and appropriately.
Patients may be interested to attend a product day or presentation day that the trust may use as part of the process to evaluate the best potential supplier.
Patients or carers from both the adult and paediatric community are welcome.
Health care professionals
Ideally it is advisable to find a local patient or carer who is familiar with the set up being used. All attempts should be made to identify someone familiar to the hospital. In the unlikely event you are unable to find a local service user/carer or timings are a problem then PINNT MAY be able to find a representative for you. Service users can help provide a broader perspective to commence the process of tendering, and also be of great benefit to validate the eventual outcome.
In summary services users can
- Influence the specification by attending one or 2 meetings.
- Attend a product day.
- Attend a presentation days.
- Provide first hand experience of service required.
- After contract award validate the benefits and range of support provided for service review meetings.
Contact
If you would like to contact anyone directly at NHS PASA please email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
The pdf of PS magazine can be downloaded from http://www.pasa.nhs.uk/ps
The Procurement guideline link:http://www.pasa.nhs.uk/pharma/specialised/enteral_feeds.stm |
