What’s happening with value-based procurement?

Oli Hudson, content director at Wilmington Healthcare, looks at the phrase of the moment in procurement circles – what does it actually mean for medtech?

It is an issue that at least some parts of the NHS seem to share, hence the current vogue for ideas of value-based procurement (VBP). VBP now has a definition accepted by academics and NHS Supply Chain that stresses two things: apurchasing process that “generates opportunities to release capacity”, and that it should “deliver tangible, measurable benefits that make a positive impact on patient care, and increase efficiency”. An NHS England board paper in 2017 explored how CCGs could benefit from a value-based rather than cost-based approach. Then, in 2019, it took a sidestep into the world of procurement - with NHS Supply Chain appointing a VBP lead – Brian Mangan – and commissioning a report into how the approach could benefit systems. NHS Supply Chain’s report concluded that clinical support and engagement were essential for VBP – and this is yet another synergy with the new Health and Care Bill, for the legislation also stresses that leading the charge for transformation in a given ‘place’ – a locale of 300,000 to 500,000 people – should be clinicians. This is the kind of clinician-led, value-based procurement NHS England will be wanting to see. Many other examples of this kind of project are available in NHS Supply Chain’s own VBP project report and findings. Third is the point about evidence – that all claims proposing a value for systems, involving those patients and the costs (or savings) involved in them should be readily available and based on fully costed business cases – and of course should be understood and valued by the clinicians medtech has engaged with to further the innovation.