The power of true cross-functional teams

As with most purchases, if the end user is involved - e.g. case clinicians and hospital administrators - then specifications and requirements can be aligned to obtain better value and reduce costs for suppliers. There can also be overall benefits, in areas such as nutrition, by aligning hospital spend with secondary health spend. This is an area where hospitals can prescribe products based on low "loss leader" pricing which end up costing the service more over the prescription lifetime.

Transferring services and products on dissolution

NHSU was an arms length body set up by the government which did not last long before being dissolved. As interim head of purchasing, Hermetica was one of the last working for the organisation taking a leading role in managing the transfer of services to other organisations and ensuring that related contracts were correctly novated over. This extended to supporting South Yorkshire health authority transition.

Lean Thinking, Better Commissioning & Analytics

Over the often extended contract of 5 years in total, Hermetica first helped to develop the engagement plan with councils. This was in parallel with a lean approach to care assessment and formulating the measurement of outcomes. During the time numerous publications were produced aimed at improving commissioning (purchasing). Finally a suite of analytical tools was developed which very nearly got rolled out nationally.