Inventory systems review for a national healthcare network
PTL Co reviewed inventory systems and replenishment practices across eight regional healthcare organisations and critical clinical environments.
THE CHALLENGE
Standardising inventory control across healthcare
Client
National healthcare network
Sector
Healthcare
Scale
17 health boards
Engagement
Inventory management
PTL Co reviewed inventory systems and supply processes across eight regional healthcare organisations, drawing on 48 assessment questions, 1.5-hour stakeholder interviews and analysis of purchasing activity across critical clinical environments. The wider network used an existing ward product management system across 17 health boards, approximately 600 users and generating around 162,000 orders and over 3.4m order lines per year.
Inventory processes differed across organisations and clinical areas, including intensive care, emergency departments and operating theatres. Local practices, technology use and replenishment methods varied significantly, with some sites operating highly manual processes and others using more structured stock-control routines. The review also examined purchasing data across selected regions, including hundreds of thousands of order lines, significant non-catalogue purchasing and large numbers of users placing orders through different routes.
17
health boards
600
system users
162,000
annual orders
48
assessment questions
WHAT WE DID
Delivery framework
PTL Co used a three-step review approach covering preparation, stakeholder interviews and consolidated reporting. The team produced an engagement document with 48 assessment questions, interviewed personnel from eight regional organisations, and analysed available purchasing data to understand process readiness, user impact, catalogue control, replenishment practice, stock visibility and system constraints. The work compared local practices without naming one model as the default, helping decision-makers understand which issues were site-specific and which pointed to wider requirements for standardisation, governance and future system capability.
1. PREPARE REVIEW
Create a structured engagement approach, including 48 assessment questions covering people, processes, technology, data, reporting and pain points.
2. INTERVIEW STAKEHOLDERS
Run 1.5-hour stakeholder interviews across eight regional organisations to capture operational realities, local constraints and readiness for change.
3. ANALYSE DATA
Review purchasing and order-line data across selected regions, including NDC and non-NDC activity, catalogue use, order routes and user volumes.
4. ASSESS READINESS
Apply a RAG assessment across processes, people, technology and data/reporting so capability gaps could be compared consistently.
5. DEFINE REQUIREMENTS
Identify future inventory-system priorities, including better stock visibility, standardised processes, catalogue control, training and governance.
WHAT WE ACHIEVED
Outcomes delivered
The review gave decision-makers a shared evidence base across a complex healthcare network processing more than 3.4m order lines each year. It showed that organisations were able to adopt a new system, but that benefits would be limited unless process variation, training, catalogue management, data quality and stock-location constraints were addressed at the same time. The findings supported an overall Amber readiness view, with specific RAG conclusions across process, people, technology and data/reporting, and created a clearer basis for future inventory-system requirements.
Common evidence base.
Eight regional organisations were assessed using the same 48-question framework, creating a consistent view of readiness, local constraints and improvement priorities.
Scale clarified.
The review placed local inventory practices in the context of a network using 600 system users, 162,000 annual orders and 3.4m+ order lines.
Readiness risks identified.
Process variation, training gaps, catalogue complexity, manual workarounds and stock-location constraints were highlighted as issues that could limit the value of any future system.
Future requirements defined.
The output documented practical priorities for better stock visibility, standardised process control, data quality, catalogue governance and more consistent inventory management across the network.
PTL CO EXPERTISE
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