Shared corporate services.
When the NHS is being discussed, it’s not usually the first topic on the list. Or even the second.
In fact, Lord Ara Darzi’s review, despite being meticulously researched and beautifully written, didn’t even mention it.
Which is why those of us working in the NHS’s back office (pretty much all of us at NHS SBS) tend to think of shared corporate services as the NHS’s secret efficiency weapon.
Our Impact Report published this month, tells you why.
- c. £3bn in annual savings if all NHS organisations used all NHS SBS’s services
- 240 years of work condensed into the past four through the use of AI and automation
- £414m of savings made in 2024 alone, via the use of NHS SBS’s range of accredited framework agreements
- 58% efficiency savings already realised by Integrated Care Systems using NHS SBS’s services
The simple fact is that the NHS is enormous – and as a consequence, can leverage enormous buying power, share best practice and achieve huge efficiencies. NHS SBS’s strapline: “Shared vision. Better together” reflects this.
We don’t produce things like an Impact Report to blow our own trumpet. We do it to bring some meat to the bones of the statement above. To show that the hardy perennials of the corporate services world – like payroll, pensions, procurement and finance for example – are not set in stone.
There is still room for innovation and additional efficiencies in these traditional functions. And there are a whole load of other functions – like AI and automation, for example – that may be a bit rich for the taste of individual NHS organisations, but become eminently achievable when using a shared service.
Take a look at our Impact Report, and if you like what you see, do get in touch – sbs.hello@nhs.net
Our Impact Report shows the benefits shared services can have at an organisation, system and national level. Whether that’s by co-creating robust new payroll hubs, condensing 240 years of work into four through the use of automation, or enabling an entire ICS to simplify the way it buys and pays for the products it needs, the services provided by NHS SBS are a force for good.
