The South London Cardiovascular Networks play a key role in supporting collaborative procurement across cardiovascular services in South London. By bringing organisations together, we help identify opportunities to improve value, reduce unwarranted variation, and support sustainable, high-quality patient care.

Working closely with NHS Supply Chain, trust procurement leads, clinical teams, operational managers, finance colleagues and suppliers, we facilitate clinically led procurement programmes that balance quality, innovation, patient choice and value for money.

Our collaborative procurement projects aim to:

• Standardise products and services where clinically appropriate across South London providers.
• Use collective purchasing power to secure improved commercial outcomes and maximise value for the NHS.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency and sustainability across cardiovascular services.
• Deliver both tactical improvements, such as price alignment and contract optimisation, and strategic improvements, including product standardisation, supplier rationalisation and long-term procurement planning.
• Support clinically informed decision-making through strong collaboration between clinical, operational, procurement and finance teams.
• Create opportunities for service development and reinvestment that directly benefit patients and cardiovascular services.

Recent Success: South London Cardiac Collaborative Procurement for CRM and PCI

A recent example of this approach is the South London Cardiac Collaborative Procurement for Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM) and Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) products. Working with seven NHS trusts across South London, the programme was established to address significant inflationary pressures, maintain service sustainability and maximise value from NHS spending.

Key objectives of the programme included:

• Delivering system-wide efficiencies and value for money.
• Mitigating the impact of inflation and wider market pressures.
• Improving consistency and standardisation across providers where appropriate.
• Supporting long-term partnership working with industry.
• Securing additional value and investment opportunities for South London cardiovascular services.

Impact

The programme is predicted to achieve substantial benefits across South London, in excess of:

• £6.2 million in financial benefits which is a combination of product price reductions and cash rebates.
• An overall net system benefit of £15.4 million over the contract term, while providing long-term pricing stability for cardiovascular services.

Benefits Beyond Pricing

Collaborative procurement delivers more than financial savings. It also supports:

• Investment in cardiovascular services.
• Access to innovation and new technologies.
• Training and professional development opportunities.
• Improvements in equipment, infrastructure and patient experience.
• Stronger partnership working across South London's NHS organisations.

The South London Cardiovascular Networks will continue to identify and support collaborative opportunities that improve patient outcomes, strengthen services and maximise value for the NHS.