Sector: Healthcare

Client: A leading provider of independent healthcare services in the UK

Region: UK

The challenge:

With many hospitals and treatment centres across the country, over one million outpatient visits per year and a focus on clinical excellence, quality of service and efficiency, having strong support systems in place is of utmost importance to a leading provider of independent healthcare services in the UK.

Under the pressure of regular audits - which rely on robust, evidence-based processes to assess the quality of clinical outcomes - accurate information and the accessibility of documents are imperative to the ongoing success of the business. Effective document storage and medical records management is central to this process.

In particular, healthcare organisations are legally required to store information for several years. To reduce the burden on hospital space, as well as saving staff time when it comes to handling and storing large volumes of information, it is often necessary to outsource records and document storage to external suppliers.

The solution:

The healthcare provider was keen to enlist the services of a reliable document storage supplier which could offer safe and efficient systems, peace of mind and great value for money.

Whereas the organisation’s healthcare units previously negotiated independently for document storage solutions and with an original contact value of £467,000 per annum, the decision was made to purchase the service centrally.

To provide a single platform for the purchasing team to drive down costs, make time savings and have a more transparent price negotiation process, the organisation enlisted the help of Trade Interchange to set up and manage:

• An internal eRFX (online questionnaire) which was completed by all operating units across the organisation to ensure all requirements were assessed.
• A supplier eRFX (online questionnaire) to a fairly wide group of prospective suppliers, which were asked to quote on a basket of ‘document storage work tasks’.
• Invitations to four suppliers, which successfully qualified at the eRFX stage, to participate in an online eAuction. Suppliers own quotes from the eRFX stage were pre-entered as their opening bids.

The results:

By appointing the supplier which best met the needs of the organisation, results included:

• Total savings of £128,000 per annum (27.4%), or £384,000 over a minimum 3 year contract
• Online controls which administer the contract much more efficiently than in the past
• Results achieved and delivered within a tight deadline