Health service site visits build on supply chain expertise

Pictured: Supply Chain Surety Director Kate Warren at Monash Health.

HSV has been working closely with health services to understand the broader impact of supply chain issues on clinicians and patients.

Monash Health hosted HSV’s Supply Chain Surety team for a behind the scenes tour of its facilities including Monash Medical Centre and Monash Children’s Hospital at Clayton and Monash Health Distribution Centre in Scoresby.

Supply Chain Surety Director Kate Warren says the visit, which took place in March, was one of the first opportunities she had to meet with clinicians onsite since COVID restrictions ended.

“It gave us a better understanding of the supply chain operation at Monash as well as their issues and pain points, and how HSV can better address those,” Kate says.

Kate says the team experienced firsthand how stock shortages can be hugely disruptive for hospital staff.

“When you have to switch to an alternative product it involves a lot of additional work for hospitals. Ward areas and departments have to relabel imprest storage areas and staff need to be alerted to the change. There’s a lot of complexity involved,” she says.

Kate says the team will continue to focus on priorities identified through discussions with health services.

“I have the utmost respect for the professionals who are at the pointy end of the supply chain.

“Meeting with clinicians reinforced the need to improve supply chains so we can reduce the stress caused by product shortages. There’s a huge amount of work being done to ensure we deliver on our promises,” she says.

Monash Health Clinical Products Manager Andrew Coe says it was great to meet the team and help them understand the practical and often complex impact of supply disruptions on warehouse and hospital operations.

Monash Health is currently supporting the Critical Care workstream of the Critical Supplies Register (CSR), to identify those products integral to patient care. The CSR involves investigations into critical product groups, to help manage supply chain risks on behalf of the Victorian public health system.

Kate says input from the team at Monash Health is highly valued.

“It brings everyday surety and procurement issues to life for us and has relevance for our work to operationalise the CSR.”