NHS Supply Chain says its national procurement and supply chain contract has helped the health service in England and Wales make savings of more than £200 million.
An improvement in product prices and increased efficiency in its supply chain service delivery have been responsible for the savings, the organisation said.
By 2016, NHS Supply Chain, which is part of the DHL supply chain, hopes to save more than £1 billion, with its Direct from Manufacturer programme playing a major role in those plans.
The supply of healthcare products to the NHS was outsourced to DHL at the end of 2006 bringing together parts of what were the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency and the NHS Logistics Authority. Since then DHL has invested in infrastructure, IT systems and created more than 800 jobs across eight distribution centres.
Healthcare supply chain executives say their key priority is to keep costs down, a survey by UPS revealed.
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