The Hub’s Pharmacy and Healthcare Services Division has carried out an engagement exercise with community and mental health trusts across the East of England to gain deeper insight into how they operate, understand their present challenges and identify opportunities for collaborative working.
Listening
Steven Albery, Procurement Specialist – Pharmacy and Healthcare Services, who joined the Hub in September 2024, led a series of online meetings and in-person site visits with seven trusts across the region during late 2024 and early 2025.
What we learned
As a result of this engagement, Steven notes:
- The most significant and widespread challenge facing these trusts is the dual pressure of limited finances and workforce shortages – a challenge common to all trusts. Many are managing ongoing staff vacancies and relying on agency or locum workers, which, when combined with financial constraints, limits their ability to undertake new projects or deliver major change – particularly where significant staff input is required. This may only be feasible where there is a clear opportunity for savings.
- All mental health trusts we met with expressed an interest in receiving support with Clozapine suppliers. (Clozapine is an antipsychotic medicine used in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia). This is an area where the Hub may be able to facilitate support for trusts. Currently, some services are delivered in-house, while others rely on external dispensing providers.
- Trusts were interested in consolidating the range of pharmaceutical packaging products used in-house and were supportive of the development of a new framework. Whilst there is a relatively standard approach to the types of products used, supplier routes vary and most trusts stock a wide range of different box and bottle sizes.
How we are supporting trusts
The Hub’s Pharmacy and Healthcare Services team is already actively working with trusts across the region. For example, supporting Hertfordshire Community Trust (HCT) and Hertfordshire Partnership Foundation Trust (HPFT) with a new pharmacy supply tender. As a result of these engagement meetings, work is now underway to support local initiatives – for example, assisting West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust in its transition to electronic invoicing.
The Hub’s Pharmacy and Healthcare Services team is considering how best to support the future needs of community and mental health trusts across the region. Ongoing engagement will be key which is why the Hub is setting up a dedicated forum to help trusts share good practice, exchange advice, and address common challenges. If you are interested in becoming a member of this group, please email [email protected].
Contact us
If you need support from our Pharmacy and Healthcare Services team, or if you have a particular interest in this area, please contact [email protected].
The trusts involved in these conversations were:
- Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS FT (CPFT)
- Cambridgeshire Community Services (CCS)
- Norfolk and Suffolk NHS FT (NSFT)
- Norfolk Community (NCHC)
- Hertfordshire Community (HCT)
- Hertfordshire Partnership Foundation Trust (HPFT)
- Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust (EPUT)