Community of Practice supports procurement and supply alignment in the Hume region

Representatives from the procurement, supply and finance functions of health services across the Hume local health services network (LHSN) recently met for the second time as the Hume Supply and Procurement Community of Practice (CoP).

The CoP provides a forum for Hume LHSN health services to come together to discuss procurement challenges, share learnings and identify opportunities to deliver improved value, efficiency and sustainability outcomes.

Hume LHSN is the first in Victoria to collaborate on supply and procurement strategy and practice in this way. 

Senior Project Manager, Hume LHSN Jane Garrett was part of the Hume CoP Project Control Group, which led the development of the CoP.    

"The CoP was established following the Hume Network feasibility study, which identified a strong commitment among health services to work collaboratively to better understand expenditure patterns and identify opportunities for greater efficiency,” Jane says.

“By bringing procurement and supply professionals together, the CoP provides a forum for knowledge sharing, capability building, and addressing common challenges. Through this Network approach, we aim to leverage collective expertise and purchasing power to achieve better value and outcomes for all Hume Network Health Services, particularly smaller organisations,” says Jane.

Northeast Health Wangaratta Chief Procurement Officer Kim Bennetts is Chair of the CoP. Kim says the CoP is a way to develop a more connected approach to procurement in the region, and provides a platform to discuss and drive procurement activities as a group.

“We saw the CoP as a platform for establishing a reliable network spend baseline and a way to work together to understand contract utilisation and alignment with HSV collective agreements. It’s also a way to identify inefficiencies and duplications across our network,” Kim says. 

Working in partnership with HSV, the group is currently undertaking procurement activities specific to the existing Cleaning Services (External) and Printing Services categories, and is also looking at the spend data and arrangements for HSV contracts specific to Fire Services and Electrical Compliance.

“This work will further inform the benefits and practices of working collectively across the Hume LHSN. From there we will look at broadening our scope to other procurement activities we have identified as presenting opportunities for driving efficiency and cost benefits and that would be suitable to go out to market for as a collective,” Kim says.

The CoP operates under, and complements the work of, the broader Hume Shared Services Committee (SSC). HSV Chief Procurement Officer Sarah Bryant is a member of the Hume region SSC, which the CoP reports to.

“Being an active member of the SSC, it’s great to see the evolution of a procurement CoP and HSV partnering with Hume LHSN through providing data support and membership on both the CoP and SSC,” Sarah says.