Ethical Procurement for Health
Consultation launched on first UK ethical healthcare procurement guidance
The first national guidance on ethical procurement in healthcare was published for consultation on 8 December 2008.
The government’s global health strategy, Health is Global: a UK Government Strategy, launched in September by Health Secretary Alan Johnson, identified the important role that freer and fairer trade can play in improving health and welfare worldwide.
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The presentation slides and discussion group notes from the Ethical Procurement for Health workshops are now available. Thanks to everyone that came along and contributed to the discussions. The consultation process has now finished and a report will be published on this page once completed.
Please note: some of the images have been removed due to copyright restrictions. All remaining content is still subject to copyright.
New Ethical Trading Initiative workbook now available free of charge to NHS procurers
News release 8 December 2008
Supporting this view, NHS PASA, in partnership with the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) and through collaboration with the British Medical Association Medical Fair and Ethical Trade Group (BMA MFETG) and BMA International Department has developed draft guidance for procurers in the healthcare sector.
Ethical Procurement for Health: Guidance and toolkit (EPH) has been developed in partnership with the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) to assist procurers in the health and social care sector to make appropriate consideration of labour standards throughout the procurement and market engagement processes. It aims to build awareness, understanding of labour standards in supply chains among procurers, with the longer term aim that labour standards concerns are identified early and addressed proactively and constructively.
We are keen to engage with a wide range of stakeholders on this agenda and aim to develop pragmatic and proportionate solutions to these issues which will be of real benefit to communities across the globe as well as in the UK.
Research conducted at the beginning of this year by NHS PASA and the ETI showed a clear need for more guidance and practical approaches.
EPH provides a model, flexible framework, against which organisations can benchmark their practices and identify actions that will make these practices more effective, mitigating risks. It provides guidance, templates, tools and case examples to support organisations as they develop and implement policies and practices which build a robust management process to address labour standards through procurement activity.
The consultation will run until the end of April 2009 and it is planned to publish final guidance next summer. There are a number of informal consultation questions for any organisation wishing to provide comments on the documents.
The guidance
Available as a full document or in sections below
Introduction
Guidance: Policy and communications
Guidance: People
Guidance: Procurement process
Guidance: Engaging suppliers
Guidance: Results and measurement
Info sheets
Templates
Case studies