Helen and Michael represented BIVDA at this year’s Procurement for Health (P4H) conference event at the NEC in Birmingham on Thursday. The day was a fantastic opportunity to meet with strategic health buyers, purchasing managers, procurement clusters and NHS Trust partners to discuss important issues affecting health procurement such as the new layout of ICSs enacted in the Health and Care Bill, the Northern Ireland Protocol’s effect on supply chains, and the vital topic of sustainable transformations in suppliers’ operations into the NHS and the impact of the NHS Net Zero Roadmap.
The keynote arena held interesting sessions led by key NHS procurement figures such as Alyson Brett (NHS Commercial Solutions), Preeya Baillie (NHS Director of Procurement Transformation and Commercial Delivery), and Michelle McCann, Director for Sustainability at the NHS London Procurement Partnership.
Dedicated skills development zones on healthcare tendering, NHS procurement, social value and sustainability were set out in the venue, alongside a product showcase exhibition and networking areas.
The BIVDA stand was visited by a variety of individuals and companies, ranging from SMEs interested in our membership activities, to international trade organisations asking about collaboration and information-sharing to benefit IVD exporting. We were thrilled to see some of our own member companies at the conference, and thank them for coming to say Hi!
This was BIVDA’s first time having an exhibition stand at the P4H Conference, and it proved insightful and useful for our engagement, communications and future strategy to increase IVD uptake by the NHS, ensure accessible procurement routes for member companies, and embed supply resilience in the face of future health challenges requiring support from the UK diagnostics sector.
