NHS Supply Chain Archives

NHS Supply Chain Awards LSP Contract

Posted on 6 May, 202531 July, 2025 by David Priestman

NHS Supply Chain has awarded the contract for the management of its logistics services to GXO. The company will be taking over the contract for storing and delivering healthcare products to the NHS on behalf of NHS Supply Chain from October this year, when the current outsourced Logistics Services Provider’s contract expires. The contract is for an initial period of seven years, with a possible extension of up to 36 months.

NHS Supply Chain chief executive officer, Andrew New said: “We’re pleased to announce GXO as the new service provider for our logistics services. Running our eight distribution centres across England and keeping our significant fleet of more than 300 delivery vehicles on the road is a key part of what we do to supply the NHS with more than 35 million healthcare products every year. We’re an important part of the healthcare system, ensuring the NHS can put patients first. As well as running our normal logistics services, looking forward to the future, we will be developing our logistics services with GXO to best meet the growing needs of the NHS.”

“We are extremely proud to have been selected to serve the NHS as its new logistics partner,” said Gavin Williams, managing director, GXO UK & Ireland. “Combining our sector experience with the technology expertise that supports many of the UK’s leading businesses will optimise the NHS’s logistics services for healthcare providers and taxpayers. We are committed to an excellent quality of service to hospitals and patients at home, increasing productivity and supporting our NHS so that it can focus on patients, its ultimate priority.”

GXO will be contracting with Polar Speed to provide NHS Supply Chain’s Home Delivery Services. There will be a transition period over the next few months to ensure a smooth handover of sites and teams from the current logistics provider to GXO and Polar Speed, ensuring the NHS continues to receive the service it needs.

The role is to source, deliver and supply healthcare products, services and food for NHS trusts and healthcare organisations across England and Wales. Supply Chain Coordination Ltd (SCCL) is the company at the heart of NHS Supply Chain. It provides oversight and operational management for NHS Supply Chain and its service providers. SCCL is the legal entity through which NHS Supply Chain undertakes its procurement services and transacts with customers and suppliers. Whilst its shares are owned by NHS England, SCCL is a separate organisation.

NHS Distribution Centre Opens in England

Posted on 18 July, 20247 August, 2025 by David Priestman

A new NHS Supply Chain regional distribution centre that will support 115 NHS Trusts is now fully operational, providing a more resilient and efficient supply of products and medical equipment to hospitals and other health care providers across the North West of England.

The 400,000 square foot Gorsey Point facility – the size of six professional football pitches – is around three times larger than the facility it replaces, providing 60,000 pallet spaces – an eightfold increase (7,500).

NHS Supply Chain manages the sourcing, delivery and supply of healthcare products, services and food for NHS trusts and healthcare organisations across England and Wales. The regional distribution centre is located in Widnes 400 and will support 360 jobs, with the majority relocating from the smaller previous warehouse in nearby Runcorn. It will serve 3,500 delivery locations and 18,400 individual requisition points that deliver the products and equipment needed to care for patients across the region.

NHS Supply Chain CEO Andrew New said the new facility would improve resilience of the NHS’ supply chain in the North West and provide a more efficient service to NHS organisations in the area.

“NHS Supply Chain’s Gorsey Point facility is a major investment in the North West and a significant part of our long term national growth plans, future-proofing our logistics operation in this part of the country and allowing us to better meet the growing needs of NHS trusts in the region,” he said. “The purpose-built facility gives us the capacity to store not only a greater level of stock overall but also a broader range of products used by the NHS, boosting the resilience of our supply chain. This is something NHS trusts really wanted. Our reason for being is to help the NHS to put patients first and in this case we are delivering on that by working to make sure clinicians can rely on our supply chain to provide the products and equipment they need to do their job in a reliable, clinically assured and cost efficient way.”

Gorsey Point is strategically located within 3.5 miles of junction 7 of the M62, 5 miles from junction 12 of the M56 and close to the access point onto the Mersey Gateway Bridge, which links Runcorn and Widnes. The site benefits from excellent connectivity to the regional motorway network as well as the 3M Rail Freight Terminal at Widnes, Garston Docks, The Port of Liverpool, and Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

Case Study: The Building of NHS Nightingale

NHS Supply Chain: Bids for Logistics Services Provider

Posted on 30 June, 20237 August, 2025 by David Priestman

NHS Supply Chain in the UK has formally commenced the procurement process for the management of its logistics services with a planned award date of late 2024. These services form part of its ongoing Target Operating Model (TOM) programme which aims to deliver improved efficiencies and greater value for the NHS. The contract for the current outsourced Logistics Services Provider expires in 2024.

NHS Supply Chain is seeking a single Logistics Services Provider to manage both core logistics services and Home Delivery Services (HDS).

Andrew New, chief executive officer of NHS Supply Chain said: “This is an exciting time of transformation for NHS Supply Chain as we align with the strategic priorities of the wider NHS and scale our operation to support this. Our requirements for logistics services reflect this growth and our change in approach. We have learnt lots from the pandemic and are looking for innovation from bidders with the ability to invest and partner with us to support our long-term vision and strategy of how we can do things differently. This includes increasing our organisational flexibility, capabilities and building more resilience into our supply chain, while limiting our environmental impact.”

The contract includes:
• Creating an integrated logistics network to serve the future needs of the NHS for medical devices, clinical consumables, facilities (including office solutions) and food
• Future development of a warehouse network which is currently made up of nine facilities strategically located across England
• The capability to provide national pandemic response logistics services such as storage and distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE)
• Implementation of a new warehouse management system (WMS), a significant IT programme of investment
• Provision of the Home Delivery Service and
• Building capability to provide an inbound international logistics service.
The Invitation to Tender (ITT), published on 29 June 2023, invites submissions from bidders interested in operating as the Logistics Services Provider on behalf of NHS Supply Chain to store and deliver products to the NHS.

Bidders then submit a completed Supplier Questionnaire (SQ) and if successful will be shortlisted to submit initial tenders.
NHS Supply Chain’s Logistics Service Provider contract will be for an initial period of seven years with a possible extension of up to 36 months.

NHS Supply Chain is part of the NHS family and manage the sourcing, delivery and supply of healthcare products, services and food for NHS trusts and healthcare organisations across England and Wales. It manages more than 8 million orders per year across 129,420 order points and 16,705 locations, delivers over 35 million lines of picked goods to the NHS annually and its systems consolidate orders from over 1100 suppliers. This enables us to bring value to our NHS partners, helping them save time and money in removing duplication of overlapping contracts. NHS Supply Chain aims to leverage the buying power of the NHS to drive savings and provide a standardised range of clinically assured, quality products at the best value.

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