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Xansa consultants helped the NHS Hospital Episode Statistics team to refine the procurement specification and managed the whole implementation process in record time.
The Department of Health's Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) service plays a crucial role in improving patient care in the NHS. Collected from health trusts, HES data includes patients' post codes, dates of birth, sex, ethnicity, lengths of stay, and operation details, as well as practitioner and diagnosis information. This data all helps with monitoring hospital performance and treatment trends.
The challenge
The challenge for the Department of Health was to put the HES contract out to tender two years before expiry of the original, at the same time as its own procurement professionals were tied up with a major IT architecture review. Re-procurement would have to be outsourced. The task was made tougher by ambitious new objectives for the service - extra functionality, wider secure access and enhanced analytical capacity were all needed.
The solution
Xansa consultants were involved in the successful procurement of the first HES service and now they were asked to apply their experience of procurement analysis, negotiation, contract drafting and project management, to deliver a more advanced HES contract in record time.
The Xansa team prepared a Project Initiation Document and a scoping paper involving 200 users in feedback discussions. A Prior Information Notice (PIN) in the Official Journal of the European Communities (OJEC) drew an eventual shortlist of three candidates preparing costed proposals against the detailed requirements.
Xansa led the three-month negotiations with the shortlisted suppliers, feeding indicative figures into the business case to check acceptability. The negotiating team grappled with liability and indemnity issues, intellectual property rights, software licenses and guarantees, turning documentation around rapidly until a recommendation was agreed.
Xansa then monitored post contract quality assurance, managed both the exiting supplier and the new service provider whilst making sure the unfolding project stayed on track.
The benefit
The new function-rich statistical service was delivered within budget and launched seamlessly from the previous system. The most impressive improvements are wider access to data by more users, ad-hoc reports and complex online queries can be actioned quickly.
The service is also now easier and cheaper to maintain; in its new form it enables the department to part-fund its operating costs by charging for responding to bespoke data requests. When budgets are constrained this is a very tangible on-going benefit.
Key value from Xansa was providing us with focus in what was a challenging procurement project - their clarity of direction and their experienced consulting team meant we could achieve our objectives within a tight timetable.
Fred Oliphant, Head of HES Service Management, Department of Health