Lancashire Procurement Cluster celebrate being awarded Level II accreditation
Head of Procurement at Lancashire Procurement Cluster Sharon Robson, said:
“I’m incredibly proud to be part of such a successful team. Level II accreditation is testament to the hard of all our team to ensure we provide sustainable procurement models which meet the needs of NHS Trusts.”
Chris McNamara - Lead Assessor for Lancashire Procurement Cluster & Head of Procurement
St Helens & Knowsley Hospitals NHS Trust provided the below feedback detailing the good practice demonstrated by the LPC
"The formal assessment for Level 2 Accreditation of LPC clearly demonstrated the high regard the Procurement department is held in across the organisations. There is clear support for the good work that LPC are undertaking and that the team feel supported and are given plenty of opportunity to develop."
Several areas of good practice were noted, including:
- LPC have developed their balanced scorecard to ensure that the positive impact which procurement can have on patient care and wider social value is captured and reported alongside financial benefits
- NED’s explicit Social Value expertise is being drawn upon. The NED would like a “meet the Buyers” type event and to understand where the money is spent in the local economy.
- Covid has helped embed the team further to each of the 3 Trusts, improving stakeholders understanding of the importance of procurement and logistics e.g. supply of PPE and EU Exit
- All staff have strong support to study procurement related courses with a number of the new recruits starting CIPS and having completed EU Achilles training.
- Continuous Improvement was the message from Sharon delivering a service to more Trusts, widening the scope of the logistics function and transactional support for ATLAS Arm’s Length Body.
- Operations Director described the LPC as an “Asset” that he holds in the highest regard
- DoF’s see procurement as a standalone function, with good leadership.
- GS1 system implemented that supports PLICS, so far has released 50 hours of nursing time by using the system and Mat Man team
- The team has clear and strong strategic leadership and also well embedded and respected Senior Leaders
- A good awareness of Equality and Diversity and the appetite to improve further
You can keep up to date with news from the Lancashire Procurement Cluster as they work towards Level 3 Accreditation here.
