Regional engagement supports upcoming tender strategy for Aids and Appliances

HSV’s Procurement team conducted a series of discovery sessions with health services ahead of the planned greenfield Aids and Appliances tender later this year.

The Procurement team, supported by HSV’s Clinical Product Advisory (CPA) team, conducted the sessions onsite and online with 14 health services including Albury Wodonga Health, Goulburn Valley Health, West Gippsland Health Service, Echuca Regional Health and Peninsula Health. They also met with representatives from the State-wide Equipment Program (SWEP) in Ballarat, which subsidises the cost of aids and appliances including assistive technology.

The meetings with clinical and procurement staff have helped inform the strategy for the upcoming tender, enabling the HSV team to see how the equipment is used in a variety of settings such as acute and aged care. It also helped the team to gather information on challenges and opportunities in the sector.

HSV Head of Clinical Sourcing Hassan Pirov said the sessions were very productive and helped HSV to better understand how aids and appliances are currently managed, what type of equipment is used on the wards and the arrangements currently in place with providers. 

He said there is a great opportunity for standardisation across Victorian health services, while ensuring we also work with health services that have specialist requirements such as The Royal Children’s Hospital.

“Some health services will store stock onsite while others rent the equipment from local suppliers. We can work with them and help them to access more options at better price points,” he said. 

In West Gippsland, Nursing Unit Manager at Cooinda Lodge Jenni Quaife was pleased to show the team around the 30-bed aged care facility where 28 of the residents use mobility equipment each day.

“It was great to be able to demonstrate to HSV the need and demand for aids and appliances in this sector,” she said.

“It’s very different to the equipment used in an acute facility. Our residents use some form of mobility or lifting equipment each day. Because we’re based in regional Victoria, we are reliant on local providers which makes it challenging to get competitive pricing.”

Jenni says the HSV team was very interested in seeing how the equipment was used in the centre and hearing about how best to support residents. “I was able to show them the lifting machines and the consumables associated with that, as well as the HoverMatt transfer mattresses that we use to support our residents after a fall for example.”

“I’m hoping the HSV Aids and Appliances contract will give us more buying power when it comes to choosing equipment for residential aged care so that we can source what we need at a more competitive price,” she said.

At Echuca Regional Health, Procurement Manager Fiona Langdon says the contract would be very beneficial, not just from a pricing perspective, but also to help standardise the ordering process for aids and appliances across the organisation.

“We have several departments that buy aids and appliances including occupational therapy and physiotherapy. It would be very beneficial to have a panel of suppliers that clinicians across every department can either rent or buy from. Now it’s difficult to have that consistency as we’re using different suppliers with different prices and terms and conditions,” she says.

“It was great that the HSV team visited in person. It’s important that they meet our clinicians and get an understanding of how the process works at our end.”

Now that the engagement phase of the project is complete, the HSV Procurement team is working on a detailed analysis of the category to determine the best structure for the Reference Group. They are also developing the statement of requirements, key performance indicators and terms of agreement which will be proposed to the Reference Group for endorsement in the coming months. The tender is expected to be released to the market in November 2024.

Above image (L to R sitting): Bruce Gilmour, Sallie Schroder, Louise Brenan, Fiona Langdon and Chloe Juri from Echuca Regional Health. (L to R standing): Hassan Pirov, Amal Vithanage, Yong Ern Lim and Endre Nemenyi from HSV.