Nightingale hospitals: 18 months of procurement in two weeks

NHS Shared Business Services (SBS) used its “extensive knowledge” of the NHS supplier market to secure equipment for Nightingale hospitals around the UK within two weeks.

NHS SBS provided transactional procurement services to NHS England in order to procure essential products and equipment for the opened Nightingale hospitals in London, Birmingham and Manchester.

The emergency hospitals have been set up to help support NHS England throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Another four hospitals have been set up across England in Bristol, Exeter, Harrogate, Washington.

Phil Davies, director of procurement at NHS SBS, said: “The speed of response needed across the NHS procurement sector to support the frontline and get the new NHS Nightingale hospitals up and running quickly has been quite incredible.

 “Our procurement team has extensive knowledge of the NHS supplier market through our framework portfolio, and relationships that have been established over many years – both of which are invaluable for a time-critical emergency response like this.”