Chris Whitehouse, a political consultant and expert on medical technology policy and regulation at Whitehouse Communications, an advisor to MedTech suppliers, chair of the Urology Trade Association, and governor of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, highlights the priorities of NHS Supply Chain’s new Advisory Board Chair.

NHS Supply Chain has announced that Joe Harrison CBE is the new Chair of the NHS Advisory Board for Procurement and Supply, and that his priorities include a renewed focus on digital innovation, value-based procurement, and cross-sector collaboration.

This strategic leadership change comes as Sir James Mackey steps into his new role as Chief Executive Officer of NHS England.

The NHS Customer Board for Procurement and Supply, often referred to as the National Advisory Board, helps shape the national procurement strategy. It brings together senior stakeholders from acute, mental health, and community trusts to address the evolving challenges faced by the NHS. The Board’s mission is to foster collaborative working and collective accountability to drive system-wide improvements in procurement and supply chain management.

Since 2013, Harrison has served as Chief Executive Officer of Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, where he sought to position the Trust as a model for innovation and patient-centred care.

Commenting on his new role, Harrison said: “I am delighted to have been appointed to chair the National Advisory Board for NHS Supply Chain. It is a critical time for our NHS to ensure that we are delivering the best possible patient care in the most efficient and timely manner, and the work of the NHS Supply Chain has consistently demonstrated excellence in ensuring that our healthcare system is appropriately equipped to deliver this.”

In addition to his CEO role, Harrison is the NHS England National Director for Digital Channels, Chair of the NHS Confederation Employers Policy Board, and a Trustee of the NHS Confederation.

The commitment to value based procurement [VBP] now being made across the NHS community and directly by government ministers is a clear sign that its introduction is coming down the line – and at speed. Established NHS suppliers and innovators of potential new products must engage with the process of VBP’s finalisation and its introduction. In particular, they should promptly consider what evidence they have, or can reasonably generate, to demonstrate the effectiveness of their products in delivering value according to the criteria soon to be widely published.

Industry’s key concerns about the current draft methodology for VBP assessment are that it should not impose unreasonably high hurdles when asking for evidence, specifically accepting real world evidence rather than requiring randomised control trials; the methodology should specifically provide for procurers and suppliers to enter into risk sharing agreements to encourage adoption of potentially more effective products; and the methodology, the most recently seen version of which restricted the scope to secondary care, should be expanded to include both primary and social care from the outset.

A top priority should be for clinicians to be directly and fully engaged in setting the procurement criteria so that they can focus primarily on patient experience and outcomes. Training will be necessary both for such clinicians and for procurement managers since the VBP approach requires a paradigm shift in the way the NHS evaluates value in making purchasing decisions. Incentives and targets for purchasers will also have to be completely re-imagined if the VBP approach is not to be undermined from the outset.

Other concerns include the challenge for suppliers of truly innovative products to demonstrate the value they deliver if there are no comparator products on the market.

The Author used AI in preparing this article, comments upon or questions about which can be addressed to chris.whitehouse@whitehousecomms.com.