New building trades contract supports expansion of secure mental health unit

HSV’s Procurement and Customer Engagement teams recently visited Forensicare’s Thomas Embling Hospital to meet with staff and tour the secure mental health service.

Forensicare, the trading name of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health, provides adult mental health services in Victoria for people involved in the criminal justice system, or who are at high risk of offending. Services include the 136-bed Thomas Embling Hospital, community-based programs and a prison-based mental health service.

Forensicare’s Manager, Procurement and Contracts Management Jared Bottles says the visit was a great opportunity for HSV to get an understanding of how the service operates, and to finally meet in person after having worked together through the pandemic.

“The HSV team helps us to identify opportunities to join existing contracts that may benefit us. They can also keep us in mind for future contracts,” he says.

“I have a positive relationship with HSV’s Customer Access Manager. As an eligible service the support we receive is great.”

With a new $462.5 million building project underway at Thomas Embling Hospital to expand the number of beds from 136 to 218, Jared says it was beneficial for Forensicare to join HSV’s building services –trades agreement.

The expansion project was a key recommendation of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System to support the provision of safe and appropriate mental health treatment and care at Thomas Embling Hospital.

Because Forensicare provides forensic mental health services for people with a serious mental illness in the criminal justice system, it can mean specific requirements need to be met by service providers.

“We’re not like any other hospital – we’re a secure facility. If a plumber attends one of our sites for example, they will need to have a police check and factor in additional time for a security clearance,” says Jared.

“The category manager at HSV contacted the panel and we were happy with the response we got from them. Most did not have an issue with it.”

Forensicare is funded by the Department of Health and the Department of Justice and Community Safety, and has been a HSV customer for almost 10 years, joining the electricity and gas, linen and laundry, medical consumables and agency labour contracts during that time. Jared says that working with HSV has several benefits for the organisation.

“Historically we’ve had a small procurement team. Working with HSV means that we don’t have to run a tender because all the hard work is done for us. HSV’s buying power offers a better a deal than what we could achieve on our own. We also have the assurance that if something goes wrong, HSV is there to help us deal with it.”

Jarred says the free probity and contract management training that HSV provides to health services is now an essential requirement for contract management staff.

“We’ve built it into our procurement strategy that they need to complete this – it’s been a great benefit.”

HSV Director Customer Engagement Alfred Matthews says organisations such as Forensicare demonstrate the diversity of services that are eligible to access HSV’s contracts.

“The 50 services eligible to access our contracts gain access to a broad range of benefits. In addition to accessing better value through our agreements, they also get access to procurement expertise and market knowledge, ensuring they get the best possible outcome,” he says.

For more information about eligible services and applying to access collective agreements, please contact HSV Customer Access Manager Catherine Bates.

Above image: HSV Customer Access Manager Catherine Bates, HSV Head of Customer Relationships, Sergio Lacchiana, Forensicare Manager, Procurement and Contracts Management Jared Bottles and HSV Category Manager - Indirect Products and Services, Anuja Nikam at Forensicare's Thomas Embling Hospital.