The Supply Chain Excellence Awards has celebrated NHS England’s vaccine rollout project, handing the institution Team of the Year. The NHS team was supported on the project by consultants from Baringa.
As supply chain strains continue to impact the global economy, pioneering new techniques are essential to helping firms recover and add value to their services and products. In order to overcome pressures from inflation, geo-political change, and the pandemic, it is therefore important to recognise the best practices of supply chain professionals finding ways to maintain vital trade links around the world.
Now in its 26th year, the Supply Chain Excellence Awards is billed as the benchmark for supply chain best practice, and attracts entries from across the UK and Europe. The key objectives of the Awards are to recognise outstanding achievement in supply chain management, and to reward those companies who have attained the highest standards.
The 2022 Awards were presented earlier in November, at a glittering award ceremony at the Park Lane Hilton, London. Among the prizes handed out was the Team of the Year Award. This year, that went to NHS England, which also picked up the Supply Chain Operations Award – Process, and was highly commended in the Public Sector Supply Chain Excellence category, for its Covid-19 vaccine rollout.
The project was the first rollout of its kind, anywhere in the world, and saw the vaccine delivered to more than 2,000 sites, with a time-sensitive delivery, complex ultra-low temperature handling requirements and a need to minimise waste. The complicated process was supported by a group of supply chain specialists at management consultancy Baringa.
John Calder, who led the Baringa team working within the wider project, commented, “We are hugely proud of the role Baringa played in this critical pandemic response programme – quite literally delivering a shot in the arm for the whole of the UK.”
Within the wider NHS England team, more than 20 Baringa experts worked across the UK Department of Health and the NHS ecosystem to design, source and build the supply chain to support the NHS Covid vaccine rollout. The National Audit Office has reported that NHS England’s programme provided value for money, while Public Health England estimated it saved more than 128,000 lives across the UK.
Calder added, “Our team’s previous work has straddled public and private sector ranging from many of the FTSE 100 and government departments, to innovative start ups – but there is something uniquely satisfying to play a part in the solution to a once-in-a-generation societal crisis. We’re proud of the work we have done and proud of the impact we have made.”
