Procurement's Role in the NHS 10 Year Health Plan
The findings of Lord Darzi's 2024 investigation into the state of England's National Health Service (NHS) made for worrying reading.
The NHS was deemed to be in a "critical condition", with patients struggling to access GP appointments, hospital waiting lists growing, staff left feeling demoralised and important cancer research falling behind that of other nations.
A newly-published 10 Year Health Plan for England outlines a simple choice: continue making small tweaks to a failing system or take a new course and reshape the NHS â in other words, "reform or die".
"This is a time for radical change â major surgery, not sticking plasters," writes UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in the report.
"The measures in this plan are radical and urgent. It won't be easy, but the prize will be worth it. This is a plan that will take the NHS from the worst crisis in its history and renew it so it serves generations to come."
The 'biggest NHS conversation in history'
Over the past eight months, the report's authors spoke to thousands of staff and members of the public, while considering 250,000 contributions to the Change.NHS website.
"The conclusion was clear," reads the report. "No one defends the status quo. Staff and patients are crying out for change."
The government has, therefore, proposed what it sees as a forward-looking care model that fundamentally reshapes how the NHS fulfils its health mission, building on core principles of universal access, free care at the point of use, needs-based treatment and public funding.
According to the plans, the NHS is bidding to position itself at the forefront of the global genomics revolution while becoming the world's most AI-enabled healthcare system.
This transformation centres on three fundamental shifts: moving care from hospitals into communities; transitioning from analogue to digital systems; and pivoting from treating sickness to preventing it. To implement these sweeping changes, the NHS will undergo structural reforms including a new operating model, increased transparency measures and a redesigned workforce strategy that aligns staff with the reform agenda.
The plan also includes a revamped innovation strategy and a revised approach to NHS finances to support the scale of change required.
Procurement technology transformation
The planned transformation includes wholesale changes to procurement.
The report states that the NHS is yet to take advantage of the modern technology empowering people in their everyday lives.
"This plan will take the NHS from the 20th century technological laggard it is today to the 21st century leader it has the potential to be," continue the authors.
"To do this, we will use the unique advantages of the NHSâ healthcare model â world-leading data, its power in procurement and its means to deliver equal access â to create the most digitally-accessible health system in the world."
The government's intention is to provide patients with a "doctor in their pocket" in the form of the NHS app, freeing staff from the burden of bureaucracy and admin.
High on the agenda is streamlining the procurement of technology and moving to a single national formulary for medicines within the next two years.
The report also points to South Korea, where AI-enabled hospitals have begun to transform both care and efficiency. It is hoped that similar facilities will be developed in England to ensure hospitals can benefit from automation when it comes to staff rostering and procurement.
A revolutionary procurement strategy
The NHS is set to radically transform how it buys technology and medical equipment, abandoning what officials describe as a decades-long pattern of investing in "yesterday's solutions to today's problems", while ensuring the best-value medicines are consistently adopted by modernising the supply chain.
Health leaders acknowledge the current system has left the NHS trailing behind the technological curve, with new systems becoming obsolete by the time they're fully implemented across the health service. They compare the outdated approach to "investing in fixed telephone lines in a world dominated by mobile phones".
The fundamental issue, according to the 10 Year Plan, lies in the NHS treating all purchases as basic, interchangeable commodities where only price matters. This has led to a focus on lowest cost rather than best value and patient outcomesâa stark contrast to other industries where strategic technology investment has transformed productivity and customer experience.
Starting early next year, the NHS will introduce standardised value-based procurement guidance for devices and digital products. Under the new system, productivity-enhancing technologies will be purchased once at national level, then distributed through an internal marketplace designed to benefit both patients and healthcare professionals.
The changes aim to unlock what's labelled as the "extraordinary potential" of the UK's HealthTech and MedTech sectors through an open innovation approach.
From April 2026, the NHS will expand NICE's technology appraisal processâcurrently used for medicinesâto cover select devices, diagnostics and digital products. This represents the first national pathway to prioritise and fund high-impact health technologies beyond pharmaceuticals.
The expanded system will focus on addressing the NHS's most urgent needs while supporting financial sustainability, with digital behavioural therapy for adolescents cited as an example to help reduce lengthy waiting lists for Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
The initiative promises accelerated commercial support, simplified access to NHS infrastructure for evidence generation and intensive adoption supportâaddressing what officials describe as "significant unwarranted variation" in technology uptake that has weakened the UK market's attractiveness to innovators.
Sustainable healthcare
Elsewhere, the report reinforces the NHS' commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2040 for directly-controlled emissions and by 2045 for those it can influence, as outlined in its existing "Delivering a Net Zero Health Service" strategy.
The health service will continue its partnership with Great British Energy to install solar panels on public sector buildings, while all NHS organisations face expectations to reduce their carbon footprint, minimise environmental impact and build resilience against climate risks under duties established in the Health and Care Act 2022.
The NHS will collaborate with the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) to explore how private financing could fund revenue-generating assets including key worker accommodation and car parking facilities. Officials are particularly interested in accessing low-risk pension fund capital for developing these assets.
The government is also examining opportunities to use Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and other private finance models for decarbonisation projects across the public estate, including NHS facilities. These arrangements could focus on renewable energy generation while drawing on private sector expertise and investment.
The approach represents a strategic shift toward leveraging private capital to accelerate the NHS' environmental goals while potentially generating revenue streams from essential infrastructure projects.
The world's most AI-enabled health system
The plan also outlines hopes to make the NHS the "most AI-enabled health system in the world," with AI seamlessly integrated into clinical pathways.
"Our aim is to be in the driving seat of the biggest industrial revolution since the 19th century as we harness technology to create a new model of care in the NHS," the report continues.
The NHS has identified five transformative technologies â data, AI, genomics, wearables and robotics â that will personalise care, improve outcomes, increase productivity and boost economic growth.
Ultimately, the goal is to make AI a trusted assistant to every doctor and nurse, saving time and supporting them in decision making.
Over the next three years, the NHS will overhaul education and training curricula, with the aim of future-proofing the workforce.
The report adds: "We will free up hospitals to prioritise safe deployment of AI and harness new technology to bring the very best of cutting-edge care to all patients. All hospitals will be fully AI-enabled within the lifetime of this plan."
