According to the Public Expenditure Spend Analysis in the period of 2020-2021, £100bn was spent on procurement for Health and Social Care this was up from £66bn the previous year with plans for just under £100bn to be spent next year. According to the UK government website, the NHS spends about £27 billion every year on goods and services.

It’s no secret that the NHS is a complex landscape to navigate, and, on many occasions, businesses find difficulty in successfully selling into the healthcare sector and understanding the regulatory requirements.

NHS England includes over 200 Clinical Commissioning Groups, 135 acute trusts, 54 mental health trusts, 35 community providers, 10 ambulance trusts, over 7,000 GP practices, 15 Academic Health and Science Networks, six Academic Health Science Centres and over 850 for-profit and not-for-profit independent sector organisations.

There are five main routes to market for companies that are interested in supplying the NHS, specifically England:

• Selling direct to trusts or primary care organisations
• Selling through the new NHS Supply Chain
• Selling through collaborative purchasing arrangements
• National framework collaborations and contracts
• Government tenders and contracts.

Jim Barr, Supply Chain North East Advisor, has been steadily working with the Academic Health Science Network in developing workshops to support businesses to tap into the Healthcare sector:

“Over the last two years the Supply Chain North East programme and the Academic Health Science Network, have developed a strong collaborative approach dedicated to support our local small businesses in the region to become more aware of the Innovation opportunities within the lucrative Healthcare Sector, and importantly how best to take advantage of these. This has been achieved through a variety of joint interactive workshops programmes, aimed at helping them to best articulate their product/service offering, and crucially involving the key stakeholders to better understand the needs and requirements of the sector, so that these can be closely matched.

“We are about to embark upon a third series of these in November, so why not come along and learn more about the Healthcare Sector and how you can prepare yourself to do business in this sector.”

Russell Watkins, Commercial Director, Academic Health Science Network for the North East and North Cumbria adds:

“The health care system can be a notoriously difficult landscape to access for Industry. The HCIR programme was created to support innovators navigate some of the known barriers. Awareness of what innovators need to do to break into the NHS market is what we aim to achieve from this programme of activity. Creating a robust value proposition, as well as getting insight into key elements of the Innovation Pathway including IP, regulation, evidence generation and procurement will enable innovators to validate their current journey and shape a new one.”

As the next cohort is due to begin there will be four workshops designed to work with businesses to better position themselves to sell into the healthcare market, make sure you don’t miss out.

The Healthcare Innovation Readiness Programme will enhance businesses knowledge of the approaches to help articulate the value of a product or service offering and guide businesses through the process of how to develop their own version.

The programme utilises the value proposition approach and will also cover topics on the regulatory approval pathway, supply chain readiness & innovation processes and access to funding streams and procurement frameworks in the healthcare sector, followed by a presentation on understanding the landscape of the NHS and how to navigate and take advantage of the opportunities, and the routes to market for Innovative business solutions aimed at the Healthcare Sector. This is a great opportunity for businesses to increase their access into the healthcare sector, in which in addition to the programme a series of workshops and seminars will be ran by Health Network North all designed to help build a strong springboard for businesses to get into the healthcare market.

Supply Chain North East brings together four key partners to work with over 800 businesses through to 2022, supporting them to identify opportunities in new and existing markets. An integral part of the North East Strategic Economic Plan, that has the vision to create 100,000 more and better jobs between 2014 and 2024. Supply Chain North East is delivered across the region by RTC North, Generator, North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA) and North East Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC).

Supply Chain North East is a multimillion programme aimed at revolutionising the way SMEs diversify their offering and embrace new markets. The programme has received more than £3m of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund, which is part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.

To join the next cohort register today >> https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/healthcare-innovation-readiness-programme-for-smes-registration-165883825989