Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking with NHS England to (a) promote the adoption of the principles of value-based procurement in the purchase and dispensing of absorbent continence products and (b) help ensure that those principles continue to be adopted in the context of short-term savings being pursued by NHS organisations.

The Government is working with NHS England and partner organisations across the health system to develop a standardised methodology, to assess the full value of medical technologies. This initiative underlines our commitment in the Medtech Strategy, published in February 2023, ensuring the right product, in the right place, at the right price. The methodology will seek to look beyond upfront cost to consider patient outcomes, whole system costs, supply resilience, and the environmental impact when procurement decisions are being made.

The methodology will provide a consistent approach to assessing value, and will be implemented at both the national and local level. This approach aims to ensure that procurement decisions support both short-term efficiencies and long-term benefits, drawing out the value to patients and the healthcare system. The Government appreciates contributions from the industry and procurement communities, and will invite stakeholders to provide feedback on the initial proposal in due course.

In terms of implementation, we will look to align and integrate this initiative with NHS England’s Central Commercial Function's ongoing work under their strategic framework, which aims to create commercial playbooks for standardising practices and processes across the National Health Service.

Regarding the specific point raised around absorbent continence products, the Disposable Continence tender is due to be issued to the market later this year. To ensure that the NHS’s requirements are considered during the procurement process, NHS Supply Chain is undertaking significant engagement across the health and social care system. This includes customers in the acute and wider community setting, suppliers, trade associations, professional bodies, and end user reference groups, to understand their requirements from a commercial, value, sustainability, and supply resilience perspective.

NHS Supply Chain is currently working with suppliers of disposable continence products to understand the value-based procurement and sustainability offerings on the purchase of continence products. NHS Supply Chain has identified a trust who are committed in supporting us in understanding this value in the form of a pilot study, and potential case study. More information can be provided once these studies have been finalised and confirmed.