Background
Integrated Care Systems in the East of England are in various stages of maturity and the development of system-wide procurement functions are not fully established in every system. With the growing emphsis on sustainability and social value in procurement, many systems lack the resource and capacity to fully understand and action SSV opportunities in their day-to-day work.
To address this gap, the East of England Sustainable Procurement Forum (SPF) was formed. The SPF is a collaboration between the regional Greener NHS Team, the East of England NHS Collaborative Procurement Hub, and the integrated care systems (ICSs) within the region.
The purpose of the forum is to create a collaborative environment to support ICS teams to understand, embed, and implement a more sustainable approach to procurement that delivers social value, carbon savings, and where possible, contribute to productivity and efficiency savings ambitions.
The forum is comprised of sustainability and procurement colleagues from all the ICSs within the region as well as relevant regional colleagues from NHS England and the East of England NHS Collaborative Procurement Hub (EOECPH).
The Project/Solution
The Sustainable Procurement Forum was created to bring together regional ICS procurement and sustainability leads to support the implementation of green plans and net zero expectations in the East of England.
The SPF is:
A one-stop shop for sustainability and procurement
It supports the understanding of regional priorities and barriers for sustainable procurement for our Trusts and ICSs and identifies opportunities where sustainable procurement can support productivity aspirations.
A mechanism for sharing best practice, case studies and learning
The SPF provides a platform to improve the carbon literacy of procurement teams across the region, giving members the opportunity to identify activities that support shared learning. The SPT also acts as a central repository to store common resources for all members to access.
A support for the development of ICS wide approach to procurement and sustainability
The SPF supports and encourages trusts and ICSs to take advantage of national and regional opportunities to improve sustainability and drive forward productivity through the procurement function
It also helps identify useful collaborative projects or activities that can be taken forward by some or all members and then shared across the group helping us to make the best use of our limited resources
The outcome
The forum has successfully supported the region in achieving and working towards many of the objectives of the Greener NHS MOU and continue to do so. The forum aims to support all colleagues in attending and accessing training, undertaking pilots and the sharing of best practice.
An ongoing pilot involves four trusts who, by working with EMSOL, are tracking air and noise pollution at points within their estates to track and identify emissions and thus supporting work to reduce these.
A number of training sessions on Social Value have been offered to ensure that stakeholders feel comfortable when applying these requirements. This has included working with national colleagues to ensure training is provided for both procurement and commissioning.
In the future, the SPF is aiming to engage further with clinical procurement leads, as they have limited capacity but do bring a rich dynamic to the group.
Further projects include reduction in gloves usage, theatre sustainability, remanufactured devices, and walking aid reuse schemes.
Testimonial
“Colleagues at the Hub have been amazing to work with and been instrumental in getting the forum up and running and maintaining momentum. They have brought energy and expertise to the group and have taken a very proactive approach to what needs to be shared with forum members to improve the knowledge base. In addition, it has been a vital link back to other procurement related meetings and discussions.
The forum has been successful because of the collaborative and partnership approach taken by all members, but the EOECPH has played a pivotal role in the planning and delivery of the monthly support sessions.”
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Stella Cockerill, Regional Net Zero Programme Lead
NHSE East of England