Daily Insight: One procurement system to rule them all

NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care have been trying to get trusts and health systems using the Atamis procurement and tendering e-commerce system for years now.

The centre hopes that having everyone on one system will mean all procurement and commercial activity throughout the NHS runs through that system, giving the centre and local organisations much better insights into what is being bought and for how much.

DHSC first got a licence for the software two years ago that allowed the “health family” of arms-length bodies access as well. Now the Crown Commercial Service, an executive agency of the Cabinet Office, has agreed to foot the £13m bill for DHSC and NHSE to roll out licences to any NHS organisation that wants one.

Whether that leads to such benefits as improved quality live information for procurement and finance teams locally and at the centre remains to be seen. Trusts and systems are not obliged to adopt the software. We must wait and see if the hoped-for widespread coverage materialises.

Cygnet’s new signing

An NHS leader with 40 years’ experience in mental health is leaving for a major private provider which has faced national criticism over repeated “service failures”, it has been announced.

Former Oxleas Foundation Trust chief executive Stephen Firn, who is now a deputy chair of an FT, has been appointed to lead Cygnet Healthcare’s healthcare division.

The independent provider’s NHS-funded services have seen major quality issues. In 2021, NHSE warned leaders it would not tolerate further failures. In recent months, the organisation has pledged to improve.

Mr Firn pledged to ensure quality in his new role and said: “I’m very pleased to have the opportunity to draw upon my 40 years of experience working in NHS mental health services to ensure users of Cygnet services receive treatment and care that is the equal or better of any in the country.”

The ex-CEO’s experience lends itself well to a position at Cygnet – at NHSE, he oversaw the development of new models of care in mental health.

Part of this focused on reducing expensive inpatient placements, often with private providers.

Mr Firn, who left Oxleas in 2016, will start his new role in the autumn.