NHS Arden & GEM CSU’s procurement team has been successful in the ‘Team of the Year’ category at the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) East Midlands Brand Annual Awards 2021/21.
The Annual Awards took place as part of the virtual Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 10 March 2021, with award categories recognising leadership, rising talent and those going above and beyond to support the COVID-19 response.
The ‘Team of the Year’ award sought to recognise those finance and procurement teams who have excelled across all key areas of their function while continuing to support the training and development of staff.
As a strategic partner and critical friend to more than 25 health and care commissioners, Arden & GEM’s procurement team supports clinical procurements, transactional procurements and collaborative contracting to deliver financial benefits for the system while improving outcomes for patients.
The team has developed an innovative seven step procurement process which has been successfully tailored to deliver a number of complex projects during 2019/20 including:
- Urgent treatment centres to cover nine localities in East Kent in a £60m contract, utilising joint venture agreements, which will enable patients to quickly and easily get the care they need
- Pioneering prenatal open surgery for foetuses diagnosed with spina bifida which is having a transformative impact on the lives of babies and their families
- Appointment of four centres to deliver a complex procedure to remove the pancreas of adults experiencing severe pain due to chronic pancreatitis to significantly reduce pain and improve quality of life
- A Pseudo Dynamic Purchasing System (PDPS) for APMS contracts: GP services and GP caretaking services.
Emily Armstrong, Associate Director of Procurement at Arden & GEM said, “I am delighted that our team has been recognised by the HFMA East Midlands branch for the role we have played in securing the best outcomes for patients through procuring high quality, accessible and safe services which represent value for money.
"Alongside our business as usual activities, we have also supported the coronavirus pandemic response throughout the past year, deploying our staff onto both regional and national PPE programmes and providing expertise to the vaccination programme. We are proud to be among a group of award winners who have had such a positive impact on healthcare delivery during such a challenging year.”
You can find out more about our procurement service here.