The LPC is a shared procurement and supply chain service for three large acute hospital trusts in the region – Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, East Lancashire NHS Trust and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.  The service was created in 2017 at pace to address the challenges identified in the “Unwarranted Variations” report by Lord Patrick Carter published in February 2016. In order to transform local procurement and supply chain services our three Trust boards recognised the fact that no individual organisation had the scale to address the challenges in their entirety, and a new and innovative approach to procurement was required.