10% saving as deal is signed for 20 linear accelerator machines
NHS Supply Chain and Varian Medical Systems strike £30m deal for state-of-the-art radiotherapy technology
Taking advantage of economies of scale to drive down cost, NHS Supply Chain has announced a new bulk commitment deal with Varian Medical Systems to procure 20 TrueBeam linear accelerator systems.
The agreement, announced by Health Minister, Lord Howe, demonstrates the benefits of aggregating volume across the entire NHS and the additional leverage the Government’s £300m Capital Equipment Fund is providing.
NHS Supply Chain is committed to bringing more value to the NHS through good procurement and asset management across all types of capital medical equipment
Andy Brown, managing director of business solutions at NHS Supply Chain, said: “Radiotherapy equipment accounts for some of the most-advanced medical equipment in the NHS. Linear accelerators represent significant capital investment for NHS trusts, but by utilising good procurement models savings can be achieved to make them more affordable.
“Across the NHS there are more than 200 Linear accelerator machines which are more than five years old and there are 98 machines that have exceeded the 10-year recommended replacement time and need to be urgently replaced. We hope this deal enables trusts to replace critically-aged equipment and bring newer more clinically-effective technology, such as image guided radiotherapy (IGRT), into hospitals.”
The deal, which was enabled through the Capital Equipment Fund operated by NHS Supply Chain, represents a commitment to invest around £30m and has delivered savings in the region of 10% compared to when trusts buy systems individually.
“This is an important deal for the NHS and is a very important enabler for the NHS to modernise its asset base for linear accelerators, to provide the most technologically-advanced cancer treatment, as well as improving treatment times. NHS Supply Chain is committed to bringing more value to the NHS through good procurement and asset management in this way, across all types of capital medical equipment.”
The £300m Capital Equipment Fund was created in March 2012 in response to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) requirements and has already achieved savings of £12.5m against committed spend of £128m.
This is an important deal for the NHS and is a very important enabler for the NHS to modernise its asset base for linear accelerators, to provide the most technologically-advanced cancer treatment, as well as improving treatment times
David Scott, sales director at Varian Medical Systems, said: “This new contract with NHS Supply Chain recognises the need for highly-efficient, state-of-the-art technology for the treatment of cancer in NHS hospitals. As a leading provider of radiotherapy equipment and software to the NHS, Varian is committed to ensuring NHS patients have access to cutting-edge technology such as TrueBeam while also recognising that modern healthcare must be efficient and affordable.”
“This order will help ensure that today’s NHS meets all three of these targets and will allow more NHS patients to access to the latest techniques such as Stereotactic Radiotherapy and RapidArc Radiosurgery. The commitment by NHS Supply Chain to purchase 20 TrueBeam systems represents a close alignment between Varian and the government’s goals of saving up to 10,000 more lives per year.”
