The drive to create savings while protecting safe, quality patient care at the highest levels  is a yearly demand on us all.

Overall the Trust saved £17.7m in the last financial year - £3.72m more than planned.  And it's looking on target for next year as we have a target of £14m and have already identified around £12m possible savings**. 
 

The Procurement and Contracts team programme has been pivotal in this year's CIP (cost improvement programme) effort delivering their £1.2m savings target while minimising the impact this has on patient care. They are one of 24 CIP programmes across the Trust setting out to deliver CIP savings and efficiencies. The aim is to deliver recurring savings from non-pay spend, review and challenge current supply routes and to maximise the use of technology to improve purchase-to-pay processes.
 

System and Process Manager, Jaqui Yuen, told us: “There are three things we always consider when making a decision to commit and purchase: that the product is clinically acceptable, that it doesn’t undermine patient care and that it helps us with the delivery of our CIP plan. 
 

“When a contract is up for review we approach the available suppliers to ensure all products are considered regardless of cost initially. All potential products are evaluated before implementation and this stakeholder engagement is critical to make sure we choose the right product.  In this trust we have fantastic stakeholder engagement with champion trial areas.”
 

The Materials Management teams look after the ordering of clinical consumables for 85% of the Trust’s clinical areas. This involves ensuring all products evaluated, trialled and agreed for use at a trust approved level are implemented at clinician access level. The teams ensure the success of trust wide product standardisation and rationalisation .

The team have recently contributed to improve cost awareness for staff by rolling out in all top up areas the Traffic Light Support System supported by both NHS Supply Chain and the RCN. The visual stickers on shelves/baskets and posters in store areas are based on a red, amber, green system to quickly indicate cost per item. Staff in clinical areas are also encouraged to appoint their own ‘Champion’ to work with the materials management teams to assist with cost awareness.
 

High cost items are labelled red (>£15 + per unit of issue) with the message: Think; please use this high cost item with care. Could a less expensive product do the same job?
 

Amber stickers are used for items that colleagues could consider an alternative for (£5 to £14.99): Could you still use a less expensive item?
 

And green stickers are used for those products that are a good choice (<£5), helping you make savings.
 

LDRP at CRH and Ward 19, HRI are two of the many areas that have adopted the scheme fully.

**If you've got ideas on how we can save more then send then send them CHFT inbox and we will forward on for consideration