Value in Healthcare Awards: Value and Improvement through Outsourcing

Imperial College Healthcare Trust and ADSM: Collaborating for a better water future

The judges said: “There are clear outcomes for this project including massive cost savings and helping a huge number of people internationally. This partnership working demonstrates a real reliance on each other and they have worked together to produce a sustainable project.”

By outsourcing water management, Imperial College Healthcare Trust has reduced its water consumption by over 17 per cent. This is enough water to run one of its dialysis machines all day, every day for 56 years.

Realising the implications, both financial and environmental, of excessive water usage the trust decided to review the management of its water services. After a rigorous selection process, Imperial found that the best fit for a third party supplier was ADSM; an organisation that was already vetted by East of England Procurement Hub and is now working with a third of the trusts in London.

The trust and ADSM set out a five year plan for the project. In year three it had already seen a 16 per cent reduction in water costs, equating to almost a quarter of million pounds. It also improved environmental efficiencies with 118 tonnes of CO2 saved to date.

One major benefit of the project was the identification of high consuming complicated leaks at Charing Cross Hospital. The leaks could have wasted 87,600m3 – equivalent to eight glasses of water a day for 120,000 staff and patients a year. The leaks were dealt with, potentially saving the trust thousands of pounds.

• See all the winners of the Value in Healthcare Awards 2015
• See the full list of award judges

Finalists

• Nottingham University Hospitals Trust: Market testing estates and facilities management to explore outsource possibilities
• Vanguard Healthcare: The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust meets demand with mobile healthcare facility
• Coperforma in partnership with Hampshire Hospitals FT: Hospital Paramedic Service – transforming the handover process at the emergency departments
• East Cheshire Trust: Transforming HR services to produce meaningful change