industry news Thursday 23 Aug 2018 @ 12:30 New National Framework Names NHS SBS As Leading Provider Of Back Office Services

A new national framework that enables NHS organisations to easily access high-quality and cost-effective back office services has named NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) as the highest ranked supplier of Financial and Procurement services.

David MorrisThe agreement was established by NHS South of England Procurement Services (SoEPS) - hosted by Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust - and runs until the end of January 2021. It enables the entire NHS to "benefit from a streamlined service delivery approach" and helps organisations "move to greater use of shared and outsourced arrangements as a means to reduce spending".

The framework was developed on the back of "the Lord Carter report on 'unwarranted variations' and subsequent instruction from NHSI on the consolidation of back office services across STP footprints"and can be used by any NHS organisation, including provider trusts, commissioners and arm's length bodies, to source and implement back office support functions to achieve savings and efficiencies.

To win a place on the framework, providers were assessed on the strength of their proposed solution across four separate lots, which included two sub lots: (1) Financial Services, (2) Procurement Services, (3a) Payroll Services, (3b) Employment Services and (4) Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing Services.

NHS Shared Business Services won a place on all lots and finished in first place for Financial Services and Procurement Services, whilst ranking highly for Employment Services, which means NHS organisations can make direct awards for these services and significantly reduce the cost and time resource needed to run a complex procurement exercise.

David Morris, NHS SBS Managing Director, said:

"To be ranked as the top provider across the majority of services we offer on this vital new framework for the NHS, is testament to our unrivalled knowledge and expertise when it comes to business services that meet the needs of a modern healthcare system. It is also a real endorsement of the investment we are making in the very latest back office technologies, which will continue to revolutionise the way corporate services are managed in the NHS.

"With NHS organisations today under unprecedented financial pressure and subject to national performance targets for corporate services, now is certainly the time - for those who haven't already - to seriously consider consolidating their finance, procurement and workforce functions, and redirect the proven time and cost savings into delivering world-class patient care.

"This framework will benefit the entire NHS, making it easier for organisations to take advantage of the shared service model and join more than 120 others - including some of our biggest and most well-known hospitals - that already partner with NHS SBS for at least one business service."

More information about the Back Office Functions Framework is available online.

To find out how NHS SBS can deliver best practice business services, whilst achieving typical cost savings of around 30 per cent compared with in-house provision, visit www.sbs.nhs.uk or email SBS-W.corporatemarketing@nhs.net.

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