Ongoing savings and benefits for health services in 2021-22

HealthShare Victoria (HSV) is continuing to deliver for health services in 2021 –22, recording $11.9 million in savings and benefits to the health sector so far this year, and tracking well to deliver $149 million to the sector by the end of this financial year.

Since 1 July, we have delivered a 12-month extension to the Workplace Supplies contract, maintaining supplies in challenging market conditions.

“We have also delivered savings on the Language Services Resourcing contract in a constrained market during a pandemic,” says HSV Director Procurement Joe Neill.

Alongside our focus on driving value for health services through our procurement program, HSV is establishing a supply chain surety function that will help improve the certainty and security of essential health products and mitigate against the risk of longer-term supply chain disruption.

This work builds on HSV’s collaborative efforts with the Department of Health and Monash Health to establish the State Supply Chain, which played and continues to be such a pivotal role in providing essential PPE throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

“HSV continues to play a key role in promoting supply chain surety and improving sector awareness and understanding of supply chain risk,” says Joe.

HSV is also delivering value in other ways, such as by supporting health services’ environmental objectives. An evaluation is underway to assess a supplier offer to provide alternative products for single-use plastics in the Workplace Supplies contract.

A further example is broadening the scope of our Continence Products contract to encompass a wider clinical application in order to meet increased health service needs in new areas.

HSV’s benefits reporting framework categorises health service benefits into three types:

• Cost reduction – e.g. achieving savings on products and services either as a once off or for a 12-month period.
• Cost avoidance – savings identified as per cost reduction after the initial 12 months.
• Further opportunity – savings that could be realised if a health service were to choose a different (but clinically equivalent) product from an HSV contract.