Collaborative Procurement for Automated Nucleic Acid Amplified Testing (NAAT): Reducing the Cost of NAAT for Chlamydia
This initiative demonstrates cost savings through collaborative procurement of NAAT for Chlamydia in 8 South West Trusts.
In the past, the process for procuring NAAT within the South West has been fragmented. Multiple suppliers were being used across the region with different prices per test and kit being applied, resulting in excessive expenditure. This presented an opportunity for the PPSA to take a collaborative approach which enabled organisations to focus on quality and on smoothing price differentials between Trusts while maintaining choice.
In 2010, a collaborative project between the NHS Supply Chain and the Peninsula Purchasing and Supply Alliance (PPSA) examined opportunities to exploit volume leverage with testing and kit standardisation within the NAAT market and to improve service provision at each individual centre while reducing total cost.
Savings of £355,000 per annum for 8 South West Trusts or £6,600 per 100,000 population per annum. This gives a saving of £1.8m over a 5 year contract period. No direct training costs were incurred to make the switch in process or equipment. Initial support for the change was managed free of charge by the supplier who supports the Trust with an implementation specialist.[wpfilebase tag=file id=611 /]