Jackie Pomroy Consultancy Ltd undertook a Supply Chain and Materials Handling review across the 3 Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust sites in early 2020. Noting this work, previous experience at other Trust’s and recognising Jackie’s individual depth of knowledge, style, ability to engage and build confidence with the team and stakeholders at all levels, JPC Ltd  was asked at the commencement of the COVID19 Lockdown to provide critical oversight  across the Trust. This was essential support to the Trust Procurement and Supply Chain Team including all 3^rd (PFI) parties in managing the PPE and BAU supply chain during the COVID -19 pandemic.

This work included implementing standardised robust processes and controls across the 3 sites to include clear communication channels between the Clinical Teams; Procurement Teams (in-house & PFI); Senior Management Team; the COVID-19 command centre; and external regional and national NHS bodies, providing assurance and clarity of processes in place and creating  SOPs.  Some of the additional outputs included:

• Working with the Procurement and Supply Chain, Finance and IT Teams to simplify and automate the required daily clinical manual stocktake processes into existing Trust systems, model daily consumption of PPE Inventory and forecast future requirements.
• Develop an external sourcing model with the Procurement and Supply Chain Team to ensure continuity of supply.
• Overseeing the implementation of the Headquarters Joint Military Command West Midlands – Supply PPE Findings & Recommendations.
• Advising on reorganisation, layout and labelling of the PPE and bulk store.

Jackies professionalism, expertise and wealth of knowledge provided great support at a most challenging of times giving the team’s breathing space and a structure to work with enabling a 7/7 day service with no PPE stock-outs and a reliable supply chain. It also has provided them with the confidence and encouragement to take the service forward creating their own  future supply chain transformation plan which will improve effectiveness, efficiency and cost of service delivery.

‘Recognising numerous inefficiencies in its Supply Chain and Materials Management having changed little in 20 years, with a high incidence of clinical staff spending considerable amounts of time ordering “non-stock” lines, the Trust addressed this by agreeing to invest in an Inventory Management System. In preparation for this shift change in the management of goods we realised the importance of a review of the current service in order to help us understand what and how we needed to change.

Jackie spent time across our three sites, meeting staff who work in all aspects of the Supply Chain. Her report highlighted many issues, some that we were aware of and others that came as a bit of a surprise! The report was excellent and offered candid analysis and sensible recommendations. Jackie is clearly very knowledgeable in her field and was able to offer great insight from years of previous experience both within the NHS and industry. She demonstrated an excellent understanding of all areas of the supply chain, common sense and a structured approach both to the review and the report. I would heartily recommend Jackie’s services.’