Welsh Procurement Review · Desired Outputs · Contact

Larry Petterson, head of procurement and commercial development at the Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust, details the recent changes in Wales and also the Procurement Review being carried out by the National Assembly for Wales.

In the last year, there have been a number of changes affecting the procurement service in the NHS in Wales. These include:

• Further trust mergers - the Trust Reconfiguration Programme is now complete and, with the exception of the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust, all Welsh NHS trusts include acute and primary care services.
• A new procurement consortium for North Wales with a new director of procurement - this consortium includes North West Wales, Conwy and Denbighshire and North East Wales Trust and the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust. The new director of procurement is Kay Smith.
• Further consolidation of the work of the procurement board - the procurement board has recently produced a draft strategy for Wales and is looking increasingly at opportunities for greater collaboration amongst the NHS in Wales.

It is also finalising its training and development strategy.

• Greater collaboration between NHS trusts - a number of trusts have combined their local contracts on a consortium basis.
• Procurement of FMS/PO System - the Welsh NHS has embarked on procurement for a national financial management system (FMS),which includes purchase order (PO) etc. Twelve of the fifteen trusts in Wales have signed up to the new system which should go live in Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust on 1 April 2001.

Welsh Procurement Review   [top]

The finance secretary of the Welsh Assembly announced in her preliminary budget speech that she was considering the best way to develop a national initiative that would achieve better value for money from the £2bn spent each year on procurement by the Assembly itself and by the bodies it funds. The expenditure amounts to 25% of the block grant available to the Welsh Assembly. It represents a huge investment and any drive to achieve value for money has to look long and hard at what improvements can be made in the way the public sector in Wales acquires its goods, services and works.

In the Welsh Assembly Draft Strategic Plan, entitled Better Wales, a target was included to achieve savings of at least £80m by better procurement across the public sector in Wales over the three years to 2003. As a result, a fundamental review of procurement across the public sector in Wales has been set up. This review will work with the public service to see how the best use of the public sector's buying power can be made.

The review is being carried out by a small team led by the Assembly's head of procurement and is expected to be available in the new year.

The terms of reference of the Welsh Procurement Review are as follows:

To review public sector procurement in Wales in the light of:

• The need to ensure that procurement activities are undertaken in a manner that is ethical, accountable and compliant with procedural and legal obligations, in particular with the European Directives on Public Procurement.
• The national Assembly for Wales' priority of best value (to deliver value for money for the people of Wales, with better and more efficient services).
• The target contained within the Plan of the National Assembly for Wales to achieve, across the public sector in Wales, procurement savings of 5% (estimated at £80m) by March 2003.
• The National Assembly for Wales' priority of a better economy: "to build an advanced, competitive and more diverse economy, with a dynamic small and medium-enterprise sector."
• The commitment given in the Plan of the National Assembly for Wales under Sustainable Development to "...use the purchasing muscle of the public sector in Wales, with its emphasis on value for money, to promote the use of environvementally friendly goods and services."
• The recent reports by Peter Gershon and Sir Malcolm Bates.

Desired Outputs   [top]

The outputs sought from this review are:

• To identify areas of best practice for dissemination across the public sector in Wales.
• To make proposals for the structures, procedures and practices necessary to achieve best value in procurement.
• To identify the likely level of savings that could be achieved if the proposals are implemented.
• To produce an outline action plan for the implementation of the proposals.
• A written report addressing the abo

Larry Petterson   [top]
Head of Procurement and Commercial Development
Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust
Tel: 029 2074 6215
Fax: 029 2074 5378

Email: larry.petterson@cardiffandvale.wales.nhs.uk

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