In a hugely successful collaboration, Bunzl Healthcare, the healthcare distribution giant, is using GHX WebConnect – a state-of-the-art, online shopping tool for the healthcare industry – as an electronic ordering platform for areas of its healthcare business.
In the five months - from 1 July to 1 February 2011 - over which data was collected, 1,300 orders were placed with the total number of individual line items placed using WebConnect reaching 6,799.
In an initial pilot, Bunzl Healthcare initially switched on WebConnect for its 70 Four Seasons care homes in Northern Ireland. Before the pilot, the 70 sites were doing most of their ordering via fax. Four Seasons required a new ordering system that allowed the sites to do their ordering online; could be implemented quickly; and was very simple to use, requiring little formal training. GHX WebConnect was an obvious fit as it met all of these requirements.
The pilot was extremely successful. WebConnect was rolled out to all 70 sites within five weeks from start to finish. This included implementation, catalogue, delivery and invoice address uploads and online training. Adoption rate to using the new system was rapid. After only seven months, 75% of orders from Four Seasons are now placed using GHX WebConnect. Bunzl is now rolling out Webconnect to many of its acute sites across the UK.
Jim McCall, Managing Director of Northern Ireland Care Homes Division, Four Seasons Healthcare, said: “Four Seasons Health Care, the largest provider of nursing home services in Northern Ireland, has been very pleased with the medi-sundries service received from Bunzl. The partnership approach employed by Bunzl staff has been effective in ensuring an easy transition to a new provider. The web ordering system has particularly enhanced both the speed and accuracy of deliveries to Four Seasons Health Care Nursing Homes.”
James Misselbrook, National Accounts Manager - Primary Care, at Bunzl Healthcare said: “We are delighted at the success of our pilot with GHX WebConnect. The system allows the staff to place orders at any time of the day or night from any computer. The only requirement is a connection to the Internet. This allows the staff to concentrate on core activities and to do their purchasing when it suits them, even if that is at midnight. The adoption of this type of easy ordering technology fits very well with our strategic vision to lower transactional costs and reduce errors associated with manual data input into purchase orders.
“Any existing contracted customer of Bunzl Healthcare can access this new application free of charge and I would encourage them to get in touch with us to do so. It is clear that WebConnect is popular with users as feedback from our customers has been very positive.”
Jason Hale, Managing Director of GHX UK, said: “These latest figures show us the tremendous potential of WebConnect. With minimal training, requisitioners in hospitals, care homes, pharmacies and surgeries can access a wealth of accurate catalogue data from over 300 of the largest healthcare suppliers and distributors. They can then select according to product description, technical data, price or even by picture – whatever suits them best!
“This all adds up to a faster way to order goods, more time for care providers to spend on caring for patients, and significant efficiency savings. Gartner Research concluded that many healthcare providers can reduce supply chain costs by between 5% and 15%. With over £16bn spent every year by the NHS alone on non-pay goods and services, the mathematics behind increasing supply-side efficiency adds up.”
GHX, whose UK UQ is based on the Cambridge Business Park, is an established provider of software solutions to the healthcare industry. Its core products include a purchasing ‘exchange’, through which hospitals can purchase supplies electronically, a catalogue management suite, and an inventory and stock control solution. The latest edition to the GHX stable is an online ordering tool, akin to online shop fronts provided by high street retailers and supermarkets, called WebConnect.
The benefits of WebConnect are apparent to both healthcare providers and suppliers alike. For providers, the tool is easy and intuitive to use and very little training is needed, as the tool will be familiar to anyone who has previously shopped online in either a professional or personal capacity. Using Internet access and a simple registration, customers are able to order products online from multiple suppliers. Using WebConnect, customers can search for and locate products from data that is verified and continuously updated providing users with the most accurate product data in the industry. Products can be searched by part number, supplier name and/or keyword. Once selected, products are held in an online cart and then transferred into a purchase order. The purchase order can be electronically submitted and approved in one step by pre-approved buyers, speeding up the approval process.
For healthcare suppliers and distributors, such as Bunzl, WebConnect can drive cost out of the purchase order process. By automating with the technological ‘back end’ of a distributor’s system, WebConnect fully automates the procedure by which orders are received and queued for processing.
About GHX
GHX – Global Healthcare Exchange - makes healthcare more efficient by delivering software and services that enable both healthcare buyers and suppliers to increase efficiency, lower costs and deliver better patient care. With the largest footprint in healthcare supply chain management, GHX connects more than 1,500 healthcare providers in Europe, as well as providers in the USA and Canada, with the suppliers from which they purchase the majority of their medical-surgical supplies. GHX is transforming today’s linear healthcare supply chain into the industry’s only healthcare supply cloud, providing 360-degree visibility into areas affecting both clinical and financial performance. Working with GHX, organisations can improve business processes, automate supply chain systems and work together in a collaborative environment to solve the tough challenges facing healthcare today.
GHX is owned by members of the healthcare industry, including Abbott Exchange, Inc.; AmerisourceBergen Corp.; Baxter Healthcare Corp.; B. Braun Medical Inc.; BD; Boston Scientific Corp.; Cardinal Health, Inc.; Covidien; C.R. Bard, Inc.; Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.; GE Healthcare; HCA; Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc.; McKesson Corp.; Medtronic USA, Inc.; Owens & Minor; Premier, Inc.; Siemens; University HealthSystem Consortium; and VHA Inc. For more information, visit www.ghxeurope.com/uk.
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Media Contacts
Ed Palferman – GHX
01223 393 898
07833 473 032
ed.palferman@ghxeurope.com