Smarter Spending, Safer Care: How Clinical Expertise Can Transform NHS and Social Care Procurement
Applying Clinical Insight Across the System
Introduction
As the NHS and social care systems face mounting pressures, the need for smarter, more strategic procurement has never been clearer. One of the most effective ways to deliver both safety and savings is by embedding clinical expertise into procurement decisions—ensuring that every product and service purchased is appropriate, effective, and aligned with real-world needs.
Why Clinical Insight Matters
Procurement is not just a commercial process—it’s a clinical one. Every product introduced into a care setting has the potential to impact safety, efficiency, and outcomes. When clinicians are involved in procurement, we can:
- Ensure products are fit for purpose in real-world environments
- Reduce variation and waste through standardisation
- Identify clinical alternatives that maintain safety while reducing cost
- Improve staff confidence and patient outcomes through better product selection
- Prevent costly errors by avoiding unsuitable or unsafe products
Supporting Social Care Procurement
In social care, clinical expertise plays a vital role in ensuring that procurement decisions support not just safety, but also workforce capability and sustainability. Here’s how:
- Training alignment: Clinicians help ensure that procured products match the skill levels and training of care staff—reducing risk and improving confidence.
- System-wide insight: With experience across both health and care, clinical leaders can identify shared opportunities—such as joint purchasing, aligned specifications, or cross-sector training.
- Unlocking hidden value: Many social care providers are unaware of existing frameworks, tools, or funding streams. Clinical experts can help navigate the system, unlocking underused resources and reducing duplication.
- Embedding prevention: By selecting products that support early intervention and independence, procurement can help reduce hospital admissions and support people to live well at home.
Real-World Impact: From Products to Pathways
Revealing Opportunities, Reducing Duplication, Saving More
Eladdis have led clinical engagement across procurement programmes to:
- Co-design product specifications based on evidence and frontline feedback
- Educate thousands of stakeholders on safe, effective product use
- Support innovation adoption through clinical evaluation
- Deliver validated alternatives that meet clinical needs while achieving savings
- Bridge the gap between procurement teams and care providers
This approach doesn’t just save money—it builds trust, improves outcomes, and strengthens system resilience.
Importantly, by applying landscape-level knowledge across both health and social care, we can unlock opportunities that were previously hidden or underutilised.
Clinical expertise enables us to:
- Identify existing solutions that meet care needs but have been overlooked
- Reduce duplication in commissioning, streamlining procurement across sectors
- Align product choices with training and workforce capability, ensuring safe use
- Reveal funding and support pathways that providers may not be aware of
The solutions are out there—they simply need to be unlocked by the right expertise.
With deep system insight and practical experience, we can turn procurement into a strategic tool for transformation.
