Diversifying NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s supply chain NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
- Led by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, in partnership with the Supplier Development Programme, six Health and Social Care Partnerships, Glasgow Centre for Population Health, and Glasgow City Region Project Management Office.
- Project aimed at diversifying NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s supply chain, including encouraging a wider pool of suppliers and supporting more local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to become suppliers.
- Developed and ran a successful SME engagement programme, including tender training webinars.
- Project ran from January to September 2022.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) is the largest health board in Scotland and spends £811m with third party providers. A Talent Inclusion and Diversity Evaluation scored NHSGGC 21% in the procurement domain, against a UK average of 23%. The Health Board covers the most diverse population in Scotland and so there are clearly opportunities to increase supply chain diversity.
The aim of this project was to encourage wider participation in the supply chain from all SMEs, to support small businesses to understand the opportunities that are tendered by the NHS, and to encourage businesses led by, for and with people with protected characteristics (as defined by the Equalities Act Scotland & Fairer Scotland Duty) to work with NHSGGC.
Six supplier engagement and tender training webinars were held. Businesses of all sizes, particularly those that are owned or led by women, minority, disabled and LGBTQ+ individuals, were invited to participate. There were 136 attendees, from 127 Scottish businesses. Overall, 64% of the Scottish SMEs that attended identified as being 50% or more owned or led by individuals with protected characteristics. A survey found that 81% of those businesses that attended the webinars said they were more likely to bid for future public contracts as a result of participating.
A partner engagement event was also held and a free promotional toolkit developed to help organisations publicise both the project and future webinar events to businesses and social enterprises within their established networks.
Qualitative feedback on all events was very good and highlighted significant learning, growing participant awareness, and increasing intentions to become a part of the NHSGGC supply chain in future.
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Contact information
For more information about this project, please contact Lisa Buck, Health Improvement and Inequalities Manager, Employment and Health Team, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, or Gillian Cameron, Programme Manager, Supplier Development Programme.
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