Health Benefits Prefered Respondent for Supply Chain

Health Benefits Prefered Respondent for Supply Chain

Media Statement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

26 June 2013

Preferred respondent for warehouse/distribution services for DHBs

Supply chain company Onelink has been selected as the preferred respondent to potentially provide warehousing and distribution services of medical stock and hospital supplies to district health boards (DHBs) on a national basis.

Onelink, a subsidiary of EBOS Group Limited, currently provides a number of DHBs with supply chain services and will now work with DHBs and Crown-owned Health Benefits Limited to develop a detailed national plan for warehousing and distribution needs for the health sector. Due diligence and negotiations with the preferred respondent will be carried out over the next few months, before any final recommendation and contractual approval is agreed. If the negotiations are not concluded satisfactorily, then other respondents can be reintroduced to the process.

The warehousing and distribution services – for products ranging from scalpels, to injection equipment and even including stationery supplies - are a key enabler of a bigger programme of work - known as Finance, Procurement and Supply Chain (FPSC) – which HBL is implementing with DHBs over the next two years. Taking a national approach to these services will allow DHBs to achieve efficiencies that would not have been possible at a local or regional level. National warehousing and distribution services are the norm for many sectors with services throughout the country such as supermarkets, pharmacies, retailers and industrial suppliers.

Potential benefits from national warehousing and distribution services for medical supplies include reduced wastage of stock, better management of medical stock levels, improved distribution of medical stock between DHBs, better emergency stock management and reductions in duplication of systems.

There are 120-140 roles in DHB warehousing. The vast majority of this work will continue to be required by sector.

Having a national supplier of warehousing and distribution services will allow District Health Boards to direct more focus on their core business, with any savings from better management of supplies to be directed back into health.

ENDS

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