Representatives met in person in Liverpool on Thursday 15 October. Howard Rolfe, Managing Director at the Hub, and Martin Taylor MCIPS, Assistant Director of Procurement – Ambulance and Training, attended on behalf of the East of England NHS Collaborative Procurement Hub.
The meeting brought ambulance procurement colleagues together with key partners and stakeholders. Discussions explored current priorities, including the importance of engaging internal teams and developing shared requirements to support effective national procurement.
For Howard Rolfe, the meeting was particularly significant as it was his final NAPB meeting:
It was good to be in Liverpool for another face-to-face NAPB meeting. As this was my last one, it was a particularly reflective moment after many years of great collaboration with the ambulance teams.
The meeting was positive and highlighted a number of areas where we continue to work together. It was reassuring to see the strength of our relationships with ambulance colleagues and other key partners and stakeholders, including GCA and NHS England, and to see that collaboration remains positive and productive.
Martin Taylor also highlighted the value of meeting colleagues in person. He explained that face-to-face meetings can help colleagues build rapport and trust, while allowing more detailed conversations around individual priorities and shared challenges.
He said:
Face-to-face meetings help us build stronger relationships and trust. They give us more opportunities to discuss individual priorities, understand different perspectives and work through the practical challenges of collaboration.
Each ambulance trust has different priorities and timescales, which can make developing a shared approach challenging. Effective collaboration relies on flexibility and strong engagement with procurement, fleet and other internal stakeholders to develop requirements that work across different organisations.
The NAPB meets four times a year, with two meetings held virtually and two in person. The next meeting will take place online in January. The location and date for the next face-to-face meeting have yet to be agreed.
The Hub will continue working with ambulance trusts and national partners to develop collaborative procurement approaches that reflect operational requirements and deliver value across the NHS.
The Hub’s role
The Hub works nationally with ambulance trusts, NHS England, the Government Commercial Agency (GCA) and the supplier market. Every ambulance trust in England is a Hub member, putting the Hub in a strong position to bring organisations together around shared procurement priorities.
Alongside supporting collaboration, the Hub provides practical procurement expertise and routes to market. This includes managing the national double-crewed ambulance framework, supporting national procurement with NHS England and working with GCA to develop bespoke call-off contracts for ambulance trusts.
Through the NAPB, the Hub can help trusts share their requirements, identify common challenges and explore where greater alignment could deliver value across ambulance services.
Work with us
Collaboration is central to developing procurement approaches that work for ambulance services across the NHS. If you would like to discuss your requirements, share insight or explore opportunities to work with the Hub, get in touch with our Ambulance team: [email protected]