The unprecedented demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) in non-acute healthcare settings was one of the biggest supply chain challenges early on in the pandemic. As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, how can our supply chains adapt to avoid future PPE and medical supply shortages in critical care locations?
The need for change now
These rises combined with the traditional strains on our health service during winter months, demand for PPE and other vital medical supplies is increasing once more. Unlike normal flu seasons, the need for medical grade protection will also extend to non-acute settings such as care homes or GP surgeries.
While hospital supply chains have become far more sophisticated with the integration of digital inventory management and data-driven requisitioning, many other care facilities, such as nursing homes, still handle their material orders manually. These manual approaches to sourcing products result in a lack of visibility into stock levels, which in turn is a critical piece of information when determining true demand for PPE across all healthcare facilities.
The issues raised by this system have been, to a large extent, overlooked during the pandemic, with media focus firmly on hospitals and intensive care settings. However, the healthcare sector needs to take seriously the shortcomings of non-acute supply chains if it is to effectively manage rising cases of COVID-19 and help to prevent the PPE shortages so prevalent during the first wave.
Has non-acute been left behind?
To understand why supply chain differs so much between acute and non-acute facilities, we need to look at how they are set up. NHS Community Health and Care Trusts here in the UK often look after up to a million people across a large geographic area and multiple non-acute sites. This means that it is almost impossible for them to maintain a manual centralised procurement system, and so these settings rely on clinical staff to manage stock in the informal ways outlined above. Not only does this lead to a lack of visibility on stock levels, but it also means inefficient budget control. The effects are also felt on the frontline, with clinical staff having to take time away from frontline duties to perform inventory checks and raise purchasing orders.
So, bearing in mind these challenges, what can the sector do to improve supply chain resilience for non-acute settings, to continue to tackle COVID-19 as well as any future crises?
A digital future
The digitalisation within hospital supply chains in recent years has transformed requisition and inventory management in acute care settings. Integrating a digital requisitioning system for community trusts to help centralise stock ordering is both simple and accessible. Because such systems need to be available across a number of diverse non-acute settings, a web-based system can be “bolted on” to existing IT assets in order to seamlessly integrate with any existing ERP systems. This approach has two major benefits; first, it makes it easier for staff to manage stock from their own location. As importantly for community trusts, which often have little financial wriggle room, existing IT assets can be used, meaning there is no need to invest in expensive new hardware.
Such a new digital system would enable procurement teams across any number of locations to see a list of top purchased products, enabling a more efficient ordering process where staff can quickly find items they order regularly. A digital requisitioning application also enables bulk acknowledgment of orders to be made faster from suppliers, helping larger requisition requests to be fulfilled quickly – especially important if there is a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases in a local area.
Inventory management is another key area which can be elevated by digital transformation. When we worked with Norfolk Community Health and Care Trust to integrate a digital inventory management system, the process involved analysing several years of procurement and inventory data to establish stock levels on a ward by ward, setting by setting basis. This allows for the creation of a standardised list of products which can then be set to automatically replenish when stock levels drop below a certain threshold. Streamlined inventory checks can also be achieved by integrating handheld barcode scanners, supplied to clinical staff, which can automatically update the inventory management system when an item is used. This allows for a real-time stock level to be displayed and, crucially, frees up time for frontline staff to spend on patient care rather than manually recording and updating inventory records.
Digitalising non-acute supply chains has already proven to be an effective way to streamline processes and efficiency in community trusts. For Norfolk Community Health and Care Trust, the implementation of a technology-led approach to requisitioning and inventory management has brought huge benefits: A single product catalogue ensures that only approved items are purchased from the disparate locations within the Trust, whilst a centralised delivery system has allowed for streamlined procurement processes and delivery logistics. In addition to improved processes, digital inventory management gives visibility of stock whilst handheld scanners track usage. This enables analysis and rationalisation of stock and ultimately helps reduce stock range down by up to a projected 70%. If digitalisation has worked seamlessly across a Trust which serves close to a million people, it can work in other areas of the country too.
In summary, one of the biggest lessons the healthcare sector needs to learn from COVID-19 is that the needs of non-acute care settings are just as vitally important as those of hospitals when it comes to PPE. Community Trusts need to ensure good and accurate supply chain visibility across all care settings if they are to avoid a repeat of the shortages in PPE and other vital equipment seen earlier this year. Digitalising the healthcare supply chains of non-acute settings will not only bring more efficiency but would also help to prepare for any potential future pandemics.
Article by James Minards, Country Manager for the UK and Ireland GHX