HEALTHCARE and life sciences organisation Cels has put together a special interest group to discuss changes in NHS procurement.

Members of the Newcastle-based national organisation were keen to find out more about how community health and assistive technology companies might go about dealing with changes within the health service, and share how to provide better care to patients after they have been discharged from hospital.

Cels business development director Kenny Lang said the organisation believed “there would be good sense in pulling together like-minded people” focused on the NHS.

He said: “It will consist of three main types of people – SMEs with products and services, the NHS itself as the buyer, and finally the new clinical commissioning groups. They will be coming together in a non-commercial and non-competitive way.

“It will meet as required, as meeting too regularly would just be a waste of everyone’s time.

“One of the first items on the agenda will be to map out care pathways for different types of injuries.

“For example, if someone has had a road accident, they may be discharged but not completely back to normal, so there is a need there for service providers and people with new products to get that person further on the road to recovery.”

Lang said: “What I’d like to see happen is the special interest group will allow a greater understanding of what SMEs have to offer.

“The problem they’ve faced for a long time is how they get products into the NHS. We hope this special interest group becomes an informal meeting place where people can address problems.”