Sector

Healthcare

In healthcare the consequence of a supply failure is not a cost variance. It is a service that cannot be delivered that day.

3 areas we work in
On this page04
  1. The territory
  2. Where we work
  3. What we are asked to do
  4. Other sectors

The territory

Healthcare buying sits between clinical requirements that are not negotiable, budgets that are, and a supplier base that ranges from global manufacturers to single-site providers. Continuity usually matters more than unit price, and the commercial approach has to reflect that.

The Provider Selection Regime governs how healthcare services are arranged, and sits alongside the general procurement rules for goods and everything else. The right route therefore depends on what is being bought, not on which team is buying it.

Where we work

  1. 01

    Mental health

    Specialist placements, therapeutic services, staffing and community provision, where capacity is tight and out-of-area placements are expensive. Commissioning and contracting decisions here are as much about market shaping and provider relationships as about price.

  2. 02

    Care

    Care homes, domiciliary and social care providers buying agency and permanent staffing, catering, medical consumables, facilities and compliance services. Margins are thin, CQC obligations are constant, and staffing is usually the largest and least controlled line of spend.

  3. 03

    Hospices

    Largely charity-funded, running a clinical service on voluntary income, with small teams covering procurement alongside several other jobs. Consolidating suppliers, getting fair terms without a large buying volume, and keeping governance proportionate all matter more here than sophisticated category strategy.

What we are asked to do

Procurement & CommercialCategory strategy, contracts, supplier performance and cost: the core commercial disciplines, run properly.Supply Chain OptimisationMaking the flow of goods and services reliable, visible, affordable and resilient when something breaks.Interim & Fractional Commercial LeadershipSenior commercial capability for organisations that need it regularly, but not every day.

All services

Other sectors

Public SectorLocal authorities, utilities, housing associations and regulated bodies, working under the Procurement Act 2023 regime.Construction & PropertyInfrastructure, social housing and the long tail of maintaining built assets once they are handed over.TechnologySoftware, cloud and security spend: the category that grows fastest and gets reviewed least.CorporateIndirect spend across facilities, professional services and logistics, where nobody owns the total.
Next step

Talk to us about a healthcare challenge.

Continuity usually matters more than unit price here. Say what cannot be allowed to fail and the rest of the conversation follows from that.