Northern Supply Chain Continues to Expand to the Benefit of Patients and Families
by Maryanne Matthews
From left to right: Michael Giardetti, Director, Strategic Sourcing, Northern Supply Chain, Lyndon Smith, Director, Shared Services Program, Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies, Derek Gascoigne, General Manager, Northern Supply Chain, and Phil Thompson, Regional Manager, Distribution & Data Management, Northern Supply Chain.Patients and families across Ontario benefit from the newly expanded Northern Supply Chain (NSC) at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. The addition of the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies Agencies (OACAS) to the NSC brings increased savings and efficiencies, making the NSC a leader in shared service organizations and one of the largest in Ontario with 85 members.
“As an academic health sciences centre, we value innovation and partnerships. This extends to our business practices, which has resulted in savings to re-invest in the care and experiences of community members. I am extremely proud of our NSC achievements,” said Jean Bartkowiak, President & CEO, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
“We’re really pleased about this partnership and the significant benefit it will have on the front-line services of all organizations involved,” said Derek Gascoigne, General Manager of the NSC. “Working with OACAS further increases our buying power, enhances innovation and efficiencies, and results in significant financial savings which all amount to enhanced value for children, youth, patients, clients and families across Ontario.”
The new partnership allows the NSC to combine the $143 million annual OACAS spending with the existing $430 million hospital member volume for a total spend exceeding $573 million annually for goods, services and capital. The aggregated savings total of $42.5 million to date for health care members can be reinvested into front-line services, such as patient care initiatives. Through this process, the NSC helps its membership organizations meet the increasing demand for child welfare and health services within existing budgets.
“The strategic partnership with NSC for purchasing and contract management for our participating agencies is one of the foundational service streams of the OACAS Shared Service Program and will enable equitable and sustainable service excellence for children, youth and families across Ontario,” said Lyndon Smith, Director OACAS Shared Service Program.
The NSC collaboration was established in 2011 as a joint venture sponsored by the Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph’s Care Group. Its mandate is to provide a central supply chain to member organizations that benefit from a consolidated, strategic approach to sourcing in order to achieve value driven outcomes, standardization and quality.
