Online advertising service launched for NHS procurement

The Department of Health has announced the launch of an online advertising service to help connect NHS providers with healthcare suppliers.

It said the NHS Supply2Health website would make it easier for primary care trust commissioners to advertise the health and social care services they need and for suppliers in turn to identify business opportunities within the health service.

Under the new scheme, all NHS commissioners will be required to post tendering opportunity information on the website from October 2008 in order to make it easier for suppliers to track them down and find out what the trusts want.

Subscribers to the website will also receive emailed updates of new opportunities that match the services they provide.

Ben Bradshaw, health minister, said: “We are committed to make it easier to do business with the NHS and in complex healthcare markets we realise it’s not easy to find the perfect match.”

He added that suppliers are often concerned that they have missed an opportunity, a situation that should not occur with a single site for trusts to advertise their needs.

Last week, the Department of Health announced the appointment of Lord Carter of Coles as the first chair and director of the NHS Coopertion and Competition Panel.