NHS, DHL, Procurement, Outsourcing
NHS selects DHL for £1.6bn procurement outsourcing deal
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DHL, the logistics unit of Europe's leading postal company, Deutsche Post AG, announced that it had won an outsourcing contract to run a part of the UK-based National Health Service's (NHS) procurement and delivery function.
DHL would take over operations currently controlled by NHS Logistics and NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency. According to the contract, DHL will manage a minimum of £22 billion in spending. The logistics company will deliver procurement and logistics services to 600 hospitals and other health providers in the UK. The deal is expected to generate savings of approximately £1 billion, or about 5% of turnover, for the NHS over the period of the contract.
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Goods and services supplied by DHL will include food, bed linen, cleaning products, surgical and medical equipment and stationery.
The deal is opposed by trade unions and will see 1,700 NHS employees transferred to the private sector. The move is the biggest example of what some in the UK regard as creeping NHS privatization.
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