North East Wales NHS Trust Automates Procurement Processes

Challenges
Following a recommendation by the National Audit Office that called for increased public sector efficiencies, the North East Wales National Health Service (NHS) Trust launched a major initiative in 2002 designed to bring Web-enabled procurement processes to its network of 7 hospitals. In addition to introducing paperless procurement, the Trust wanted to eliminate "contract leakage" and enforce product standardisation, particularly for emergency medical equipment. Reducing the number of purchasing administrators was another important goal, as was improving collaboration with suppliers and implementing just-in-time ordering for non-clinical items.

Along with most other NHS Trusts in Wales, North East was already using Oracle Financials and Oracle Procurement. Next, North East wanted to increase efficiencies further by introducing a self-service purchasing solution that would automate every step of the procurement process and integrate seamlessly with the Trust’s back office systems.

Solution
North East Wales NHS Trust now uses Oracle iProcurement, a Web-based self-service purchasing solution, to eliminate paperwork from every stage of the internal procurement process. The Trust’s 500 users select from a supplier-maintained online catalog of 27,000 frequently ordered items--everything from medical consumables to office supplies--at pre-negotiated prices. Approval takes place online, with Oracle Workflow routing requests to the appropriate budget manager. Orders are generated online and automatically sent to suppliers. Requestors can check the progress of orders online at every stage. When goods arrive--regularly within 24 to 48 hours--the requestor acknowledges receipt of the goods online, triggering payments to the supplier.

Benefits • Paperless procurement for 100% of transactions • Enforced product standardisation for medical consumables • Spend driven through established supplier contracts • Just-in-time ordering for office supplies reduces need to hold stock • Purchasing administrators redeployed to added value activities • Intuitive functionality speeds up user adoption • Improved collaboration with suppliers Copyright © 2005 Oracle Corporation. All Rights Reserved.