Marie Curie Cancer Care - a case study

Marie Curie Cancer Care, a comprehensive cancer care charity, provides practical nursing care at home and specialist multi-disciplinary care through its ten Marie Curie Hospices. Marie Curie also provides education and training in cancer and palliative care for doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals. Scientists at the world-renowned Marie Curie Research Institute are at the forefront of research into the causes and treatment of human cancers.

In order to deliver and develop services, the charity has to raise income in excess of £65m per annum through a combination of legacy income, fundraising initiatives, shops and NHS funding. As more and more charities fight for income, the task of fundraising becomes even more challenging, and wise and careful spending of this limited resource is increasingly important.

CY Associates have been working with the charity since 1997 to deliver a managed procurement service based on sound commercial principles and best practice.

Assessment

When we began to work with the charity, the purchasing function was viewed with suspicion and seen by the remote sites as a central function, driven by Head Office which would deliver centralised edicts to those at local level without any consideration for local practices or requirements. It was time to address this imbalance and work with staff "at the coal face" to deliver initiatives that would be developed and driven by all involved.

A purchasing audit was carried out at each of the ten hospices. The audit examines the current purchasing activities, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the current processes and systems. A benchmarking exercise was undertaken and current prices were compared with alternative sources of supply. It was interesting to see that all had similar requirements but were obtaining them in a different way, some with the same suppliers but on different terms and at different prices, there was no consolidation across the charity. It was evident that staff were spending a lot of time on administration which was not adding value.

Many voluntary sector organisations do not realise the importance of the purchasing function within an organisation it is refreshing to work with a Finance Director, Claire Newton, who appreciates and recognises the contribution that such expertise brings.

Findings

Within a short space of time, initiatives were introduced to consolidate requirements and streamline processing. This delivered savings of up to 30% on basic goods such as food, medical/surgical and janitorial supplies. By working in partnership with the NHS, the centres began to make savings in excess of £100,000 per annum on these items alone, coupled with additional benefits and intangible savings as a result of introducing electronic ordering. Administrator Ian Armstrong at the MCCC, Newcastle centre estimates that the task of re-ordering, which used to take two days each week, is now reduced to less than five hours. He said "The system has made a real impact within the centre, both nursing and support staff have indicated that they would not like to return to the old paper chase system"

The cost effective introduction of the Managed Purchasing Service (CY Alliance), allows purchasing to be centrally coordinated with local ordering, direct delivery and consolidated invoicing. These changes have allowed staff to concentrate on care rather than administration.

Summary

Today there are very few areas of the charity that the CY Associates team has not ventured into. Recent projects include a review of the Charity’s insurance broker, sourcing two million daffodils for MCCC "Daffodil Day", appointment of a manual handling training company and a review of the Charity’s direct mail fulfillment agency.

All these areas are completely different, but all require purchasing input in terms of sourcing, tendering, evaluating, negotiating, implementing and ongoing contract management. These are key to a successful outcome. Many voluntary sector organisations do not realise the importance of the purchasing function within an organisation. It is refreshing to work with a Finance Director, Claire Newton, who appreciates and recognises the contribution that such expertise brings.

So what constitutes a successful outcome? For Marie Curie Cancer Care, like most organisations, it is successful delivery of a favourable contract to provide the goods or services. This year sees the introduction of Key Performance Indicators across the Charity. CY Associates welcomes this initiative and has committed to the measurable working targets on the following

Professional purchasing is now recognised by leading commercial companies as a major contributor to profitability with emphasis focusing heavily on total cost of ownership and process elimination. Charities can almost certainly benefit, as Marie Curie has benefited, from purchasing professionals providing input at a strategic level to realise and deliver substantial benefits across the organisation.