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UK NHS trusts should use shared services
11 February 2009:
Nicholson wrote that NHS trusts must plan for the future as the funding available to them may well change in the current economic climate.
"An important element of this is delivering efficiencies in back office functions, including finance and accounting, payroll, human resources, family health services, estates and security. This would free up more funds for front line care and deliver real savings for the NHS," he explained.
Nicholson said NHS SBS, the shared services partnership between the NHS and Steria, has already delivered savings in the order of £40m across the NHS and created 20-30 per cent in savings for trusts.
NHS SBS is now working with over 100 NHS bodies and uses "recognised best practice processes and systems to deliver such services whilst offering improved management information and financial and payroll management data," Nicholson said. "Current services include finance and accounting, payroll, e-procurement and family health services, and the business is keen to expand across all its service lines."
Nicholson added that NHS SBS is due to reach profitability in 2009/10, with all the profits shared between the customer base. However, he advised any trust that already had corporate services retained in-house to stick with it as it would be better value for money than transferring over to NHS SBS.
"NHS SBS has many NHS reference clients and I would encourage trusts to take up these references and explore the range of services available," he said.
Source: Public Service
