Staffing for Great Western Hospitals NHS

Delivering Exceptional Customer Service for Workforce Procurement

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust needed to make new arrangements for their nursing staff supply. With an annual contract value of over £7m, the Trust wanted to investigate different procurement models to make sure they got the best value and fit for their organisation.

NHS London Procurement Partnership (NHS LPP) was the partner organisation from NHS Workforce Alliance selected to work with Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on this procurement. Stephanie Alexander, NHS LPP Workforce Alliance, said: “Although timescales were tight the Trust had already conducted a market overview and wanted to engage via the new framework to further identify their best fit for their requirements.”  

The Trust had previously worked with a master vendor, but is now being offered nursing staff through a preferred supplier list.

The new agency providers help the Trust ensure a safe and affordable nursing workforce that provides high quality care every time.

The Trust is also benefiting from having a wider pool of skilled nursing staff; with a range of backgrounds and experience, along with being able to use existing agency staff who have been used before.

Kelly Willoughby, Deputy Director of Procurement at the Trust, said of working with the NHS LPP team and Workforce Alliance team – “What was really helpful for us was the support they gave us. We felt the team was like an extension of our own team, bolstering our knowledge, understanding and experience with theirs. We now have a preferred supplier list which we are managing for ourselves with the continued support of Steph and the team as we move towards implementation.”

There were a number of challenges along the way, yet despite this the procurement was managed effectively against a tight timescale with no significant hitches or issues. Collaboration was key to the successful outcome.

Kelly Willoughby said: “The team’s experience and guidance added considerable value to the whole process for us. Their commitment to support us and turnaround activity in such short timescales made the difference that meant we met our deadlines, and that was important. Working with the team has been a great experience.”