Telecare framework sales near £7m mark

Almost £7m of sales have gone through the telecare national framework agreement since its launch last June and an update available from this month has added nearly 1000 new equipment lines and additional savings.

The national framework agreement, run by the NHS Purchasing and Supplies Agency (NHS PASA), aims to provide health and local authorities and social care organisations with an EU compliant procurement solution for telecare and telehealth equipment.

Paddy Howlin, category manager for the framework, said NHS PASA was pleased with the value of sales so far which totalled almost £7m by the end of February, with greater activity expected towards the end of the financial year.

He told EHI Primary Care: “It’s been really encouraging. We had aimed for £9m spend in year one and we are well on course to achieve that.”

The framework agreement has been updated from 1 April   with the addition of 958 new individual equipment lines, 118 new equipment packages and 216 new services/service packages.

The revised framework agreement offers average savings on existing products and services of 14.1% in addition to savings of 13.9% achieved when the framework was first awarded in June 2006. The average savings for new products added to the framework is 10.7%.

There are now 14 suppliers on the framework which is to run for four years from June 2006 and is subject to an annual review, the first of which has now been completed.

NHS PASA is due to publish an updated information pack and a supporting supplement outlining the outcomes of the annual review in mid-April.