NHS ENGLAND
Using a universal ecommerce system A key deliverable of the Central Commercial Function was introduced just weeks after its launch – and that was the universal rollout of the ecommerce system : Atamis .
NHS England made Atamis available to all health and family organisations , following funding from Crown Commercial Services and working in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care in July 2022 .
It is being used by a range of different organisations across the health family , namely ( 1 ) NHS Providers , ( 2 ) NHS Integrated Care Boards , ( 3 ) NHS CSUs , ( 4 ) national bodies ( e . g . NHS England , UKHSA ) and ( 5 ) the Department of Health and Social Care .
Rock says : “ So far , 131 health family organisations have onboarded to the platform and nearly 29,000 suppliers have registered on the platform in order to respond to opportunities and manage their contracts with the NHS .”
“ The key point of using a universal e-commerce system is that , by the end of the financial year we will have a really detailed view of commercial spend . We will know where we are spending , where the variance exists , and where we are getting better value for money .
“ We will have a very good view of our supplier footprint across 220 trusts and thousands of primary care providers , so it ' s a really key initiative .
“ We ' ve got to be data-driven , because , ultimately , service provision is all about the data . Up to this point , it ' s been very hard to pull data together and actually have that overall NHS view – and this is going to enable us to do that .”
NHS organisations are already seeing the benefits . The London Ambulance Service ( LAS ) were one of the first to
“ The real value of the NHS commercial team is in collaboration . It ’ s about bringing everybody across 4,000 + procurement and supply chain professionals together , so that we can agree on category strategies and move forward with a single vision ”
JACQUI ROCK CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER , NHS ENGLAND
60 February 2023