Shared Systems Enables NHS Organisations to Release Funds for Front-Line Services

Overview

North East Patches Shared System wanted to cut IT overhead by sharing a centrally managed infrastructure and applications for financial and purchasing processes. They wanted to consolidate combined GBP1 billion (US$1.7 billion) per annum non-payroll spend of NHS organizations to negotiate lower prices for frequently purchased goods and cut transaction processing costs for NHS organizations and suppliers by replacing paper-based processes with electronic procurement using latest technology. The consortium reduced IT costs by running financial and purchasing processes for all organizations on a single instance of Oracle and created North East Patches eMarketplace, an electronic catalog-based purchasing system built on Oracle Exchange, and accessed by the National Health Service (NHS) organizations using Oracle iProcurement.