L Menzies

Bio: L Menzies is an academic researcher from University of Liverpool. The author has contributed to research in topics: Procurement & Purchasing. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 8 publications receiving 42 citations.

Procurement Maturity in Public Healthcare Procurement: An Exploratory Study

Abstract: This paper reports on the early findings of a study into procurement maturity across four English Trusts in the UK's National Health Service (NHS). Procurement is central to NHS cost cutting initiatives yet the ability to deliver is compromised by the lack of procurement maturity as activities centre almost exclusively on process compliance. Procurement activities were explored via interviews with buyers, clinicians and suppliers. The failure to progress to a higher level of procurement maturity in the NHS is not attributed only to failings at the buyer-seller dyadic interface as standard procurement models would suggest, but to predominantly internal barriers.

Integrating housing into the whole system of care for older people

Abstract: The ageing population in the UK is placing huge pressure on Health and Social Care, exacerbated by current economic pressures to cut costs. The British Government is politically driving integrated care, to encourage the different services that constitute the whole system of care to work together in order to reduce fragmentation and overlap in the system. However, methods for effective partnership working towards integrated care are not well researched. This thesis details an action research project to virtually integrate Housing into the whole system of care in Conwy in particular, concluding that the methods used provide an appropriate approach for partnership working towards integrated care, thus addressing this gap. Housing plays an important role in the whole system of care for older people as a person's home environment has a high impact on their wellbeing. Poor quality housing can negatively impact on health, and care can be provided in the home due to the government's emphasis on 'ageing in place'. However, whilst the importance of considering Housing's role in the whole system of care is identified in government policy, efforts towards achieving integrated care do not commonly include Housing departments or providers. The thesis concludes that only types of housing which inherently include care (e.g. extra care, care homes) are integrated into the system, despite the fact that residents can access care in any type of housing. Soft systems methodology (SSM) is used to identify the whole system of care in Conwy, Wales. A Steering Group was established to develop an Older Persons' Housing Strategy (OPHS) for Conwy, one of the aims of which was to integrate Housing into the whole system of care. The local authority act as the 'strategic enabler' in achieving this. Each Steering Group member was interviewed to establish their role within the system, and their worldviews on it. This enabled the Steering Group to develop a shared vision for the OPHS, which is a key feature of successful partnerships to achieve integrated care. Support is identified as an appropriate integrating function and examined to establish appropriate operations structures. Through a survey of support services in Wales, it is identified that support, provided by wardens in sheltered housing, is currently going through a transition period, due to changes to funding guidelines for support. Many local authorities in England are now using offsite support, but the impacts of this are not well researched. This research provides an evidence base for practitioners looking to change the structure of their warden service. This is based on a SWOT analysis of onsite and offsite support, conducted from the data gathered during the survey. Local authorities can capitalise on the changes being made to warden services, taking the opportunity to upskill wardens and using support to integrate Housing into the care system by signposting other services. Finally, focus groups were conducted with older people to ensure the OPHS met their needs. This also served to triangulate the findings of the SSM and the survey, demonstrating the effectiveness of combining these methods.

How Procurement Judges The Value of Medical Technologies: A Review of Healthcare Tenders.

Abstract: Objectives Procurement's important role in healthcare decision making has encouraged criticism and calls for greater collaboration with health technology assessment (HTA), and necessitates detailed analysis of how procurement approaches the decision task. Methods We reviewed tender documents that solicit medical technologies for patient care in Canada, focusing on request for proposal (RFP) tenders that assess quality and cost, supplemented by a census of all tender types. We extracted data to assess (i) use of group purchasing organizations (GPOs) as buyers, (ii) evaluation criteria and rubrics, and (iii) contract terms, as indicators of supplier type and market conditions. Results GPOs were dominant buyers for RFPs (54/97) and all tender types (120/226), and RFPs were the most common tender (92/226), with few price-only tenders (11/226). Evaluation criteria for quality were technical, including clinical or material specifications, as well as vendor experience and qualifications; "total cost" was frequently referenced (83/97), but inconsistently used. The most common (47/97) evaluative rubric was summed scores, or summed scores after excluding those below a mandatory minimum (22/97), with majority weight (64.1 percent, 62.9 percent) assigned to quality criteria. Where specified, expected contract lengths with successful suppliers were high (mean, 3.93 years; average renewal, 2.14 years), and most buyers (37/42) expected to award to a single supplier. Conclusions Procurement's evaluative approach is distinctive. While aiming to go beyond price in the acquisition of most medical technologies, it adopts a narrow approach to assessing quality and costs, but also attends to factors little considered by HTA, suggesting opportunities for mutual lesson learning.