Crown Commercial Service (CCS), the UK’s largest public procurement organisation, will fund two initiatives that aim to boost NHS commercial skills, improve efficiency and patient care, and reduce waiting lists.
CCS will provide NHS England with over £15m funding—an average of £5.3 million each year over the next three years—to support NHS Energy Management Capability and create a first-of-its-kind NHS Commercial Learning & Development Academy aimed at boosting NHS commercial skills.
This will offer the health service’s commercial staff access to a range of learning and development opportunities to deliver a best-in-class workforce.
The training programme supports the Government’s agenda to grow the economy by ensuring that contracting authorities are able to effectively manage all the key stages of commercial delivery.
This will also help support the delivery of wider NHS objectives, such as attaining better value and providing world-class patient care.
Commercial skills will drive energy efficiency in the NHS
The NHS uses energy to provide key care services for 1.6 million people every day. For example, energy is needed for staff to clean an area the size of Gibraltar and to provide 326,880 meals for patients and staff.
CCS’s investment will support NHS commercial and business colleagues in buying and managing energy consumption and deliver better training on best practice skills and ways of working to improve the way that energy is procured and managed in the NHS in England.
These improvements will significantly contribute to finding efficiencies whilst supporting NHS net zero ambitions.
The initiatives align with the new Strategic Framework for NHS Commercial, launched in November 2023, which marks a step change in the way that NHS Commercial will work.
Building on skills improvements
This latest investment is part of CCS’s ongoing strategy to fund commercial capability improvements across the public sector.
In 2022, CCS provided investment to support NHS England’s roll out of one e-commerce system as a common procurement platform across Trusts.
The platform is seeing accelerated adoption and is enabling the NHS to consolidate the procurement landscape and use commercial data more effectively.
Jacqui Rock, Chief Commercial Officer for NHS England, said: “These exciting initiatives working in partnership with Crown Commercial Service will help the NHS continue to deliver on our commitments to patients and our workforce while providing the best value for money for the taxpayer.
“Our teams will be fully supported to deliver a best-in-class commercial function, ensuring the best purchasing decisions for the NHS and driving further efficiencies to help improve care for patients.”
